
ANDREW JACKSON FOTTEK. 



Andrew Jackson Potter, 



THE 



Fighting Parson of the Texan Frontier, 



SIX YEARS OF INDIAN WARFARE IN 
NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA, 



Many Wonderful Events in his Ministerial Life on the Frontier 
Border of Western Texas, During a Long Term of Evan- 
gelical Toils and Personal Combats with Savage 
Indians and Dating Desperadoes, Includ- 
ing many Hair-breadth Escapes. 

He has long been a Member of the West Texas Annual Con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and 
is now Presiding Elder of the Mason, or Border, 
District. He is generally known as the 
" Indian Fighting Parson." 



BY THE REV. H. A. GRAVES, 

Of the same Conference, formerly of the Tennessee Annual Conference. 



Foe thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou 

HAST SEEN AND HEARD." (ActS XXii. 15.) 






Nashville, Tenn. : 
SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1881. 



y 



1-39/ 



COPYRIGHT SECURED. 



PREFACE, 



Feeling a deep interest in the present and future wel- 
fare of the youth of this age, and especially of those of 
our own American Eepublic, we most respectfully ded- 
icate this little volume to them — showing an eminence 
attained from the most obscure sphere of life. 

No humbleness of birth, no depth of poverty, no de- 
graded condition, no severity of hardships, no height of 
difficulties, and no array of living opponents, present in- 
superable barriers to a stable reform, and the ultimate 
acquisition of virtue and honor, where there is a decisive 
will and unfailing energy, coupled with faith in the favor- 
able results of a just enterprise, managed agreeable to the 
law of right and justice. Will, inspired with the might 
of Faith, removes mountainous obstacles, and reaches the 
goal of victory. AUTHOR. 



IJ^TBODUCTIOM. 



BiOGEAPHY is a history of the life and character of a 
particular individual, and is said to be of more intrinsic 
value to mankind than all more general narratives, as it 
brings to light the underlying motives which usually stim- 
ulate men to action, and connects more immediate results 
with their efficient causes. The faithful portrait of the 
life of a bad man, setting forth the baleful eifects of a 
sinful and a vicious life, cannot fail to instruct and warn 
men of the hurtful results of sinful habits; while the 
truthful exhibit of a virtuous character, coupled with its 
gracious benefits to society, must of necessity be of ines- 
timable value to society at large. The first furnishes a 
motive to deter from vice, the second presents an incentive 
to invite us to the ways of virtue. The man whose life is 
plainly sketched in this little volume gives us a specimen 
of both vicious and virtuous habits — his life having been 
a tripartite — evil, good, ministerial. His early years were 
passed in the haunts of vice, his after-life in the ministry 
of Jesus Christ. But in all the strange and crooked paths 
over which he traveled in boyhood and youth there was a 
manifest protective power about him from an occult super- 



6 Introduction. 

human force, sheltering and guiding unerringly to a cer- 
tain ultimate, an event to be reached by intelligent design. 
Truly, there is a man for every place, and a place for each 
man, in all spheres of life ; and each one needs a prepara- 
tory schooling for his respective field of action. Shakes- 
peare said, " There 's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
rough-hew them how we will." But the Bible phrases it 
better than that: "A man's heart deviseth his way, but 
the Lord diredeth his steps." " His ways are past finding 
out." One thing, however, is certain, God chooses his own 
special agents from among mankind to carry out his gra- 
cious plans of saving men ; but the initiatory training of 
those agents is often darkly mysterious and painfully se- 
vere, but suitable and certain in the end. How strange 
and wonderful the curriculum of the school of adverse 
fortune in which the little boy who was clad in " the coat 
of many colors " received his training for his eventful life I 
Yet Joseph piloted a nation's life through the terrible 
seven years of famine, and planted the germinal seeds of 
the world's future civilization in Judea's land. Marvel- 
ous indeed was the early life of the carol-singing boy of 
the sixteenth century. Little did Conrad Cotter dream 
that he was nursing the lion whose matured might should 
break the papal yoke from the neck of empires ; nor did 
Gamaliel see in little "Saul of Tarsus" the miniature 
giant whose logical leverage must overturn the temples 



Introduction. 7 

of paganism, and demolish the altars of ages, and erect 
Christianity on their scattered ruins. The schooling of 
those divinely - chosen agents was severe, but the end 
thereof was sure. The mother of little Andrew Jackson 
Potter, when in innocent glee he nestled on her maternal 
bosom, saw not the rough and thorny path his youthful 
feet should tread — the terrible hardship-drill 'twixt him 
and a day of glorious triumph ; but all along the danger- 
ous labyrinths through which his reckless young life led 
him a kind, unseen hand holds a protective shield over the 
head of her orphan child. The well-aimed arrow of the 
savage Indian falls harmless at his side, whizzes through 
the air, or pierces the heart of his comrade. What shall 
we call that shielding force? " Fate," " Destiny," or " Prov- 
idence?" The cold-hearted skeptic replies, "Destiny," 
" Fate ; " and scoffingly asks, 

" When the loose mountain trembles from on high. 
Shall gravitation cease if you go by?" 

No ; truly, it need not " cease," but a divine angel may 
touch your will's secret springs that you may not " go by " 
till the "great rock" has tumbled into the depths below. 

We shall call it a Special Providence that safely guided 
the orphan boy through all the perilous vicissitudes nar- 
rated in the following pages — that kind and pitying Wis- 
dom which numbers the hairs on the head of each one in 
the world, and sees with compassion the falling sparrow 



8 Introduction. 

when leaden hail has crippled its wing. A man is to be 
qualified to plant Christianity all along the frontier-bor- 
ders of Western Texas, where savage heathenism and 
quasi civilization meet and interlap. The erudite son of 
Gamaliel is not needed there, nor is the mild and loving 
John, nor a foreign-storming Apollos, among a non-read- 
ing, bookless population, but shrewd and recklessly brave. 
A man of themselves is wanted, gifted of nature and pol- 
ished by grace, one skilled in all the tricks and arts of sin 
in frontier-life, and in all the modes of predatory border 
warfare — brave, generous, wise, pure, social, hospitable, 
zealous, and defiant in the face of the almost-impossible. 
"The All-seeing Eye" saw the rudiments of that essential 
character in Missouri's orphan child. Born on her early 
frontier, having inherited all the taste and genius for 
frontier-life, he continued in that school till his lesson was 
fully learned ; and, after his regeneration, religion sup- 
plied all needed virtues for a grace-refined manhood. 



COMTEMTS 



CHAPTER I. 
His nativity 13 

CHAPTEE II. 
His six years' race-riding 19 

CHAPTER III. 

He enters the United States Army — Serves the Government 

six years 27 

CHAPTER IV. 
Indian fights and troubles on the plains of New Mexico 35 

CHAPTER V. 
Trouble with three Mexicans near Santa Fe 42 

CHAPTER VI. 

He fights Indians, and is a nurse in the hospital at Santa Fe . . 46 

CHAPTER VII. 
Nurses a sick man with cholera near Leavenworth 56 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Cuts " Kentuck's" coat, and throws down an Hibernian 60 

CHAPTER IX. 
He goes with the " Olive Branch " Mormons 64 

CHAPTER X. 
He goes to Texas, and reaches San Antonio 7? 

CHAPTER XL 
He finds his brother — Has fever — His marriage 77 

CHAPTER XII. 

Pie and "Uncle Leed" — "Signor Blitz" — A farcical concert. . 85 

CHAPTER XIIL 

His conviction — Conversion — Joins the Church 98 



10 Contents. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
He is appointed class-leader — Has a revival 112 

CHAPTER XV. 
He visits Missouri, his native home — Has a revival — A 

trouble 119 

CHAPTER XVI. 
He joins the Confederate States Army — His camp at Camp 

Verde — Hospital at San Antonio 125 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Many incidents while at Camp Clark, etc 132 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
He is appointed chaplain of Debray's regiment 145 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Many incidents and battles on Red River in Louisiana 151 

CHAPTER XX. 
Incidents and meetings at San Augustine 165 

CHAPTER XXI. 
His address to the troops at Houston, by Mr. Lee Rogan 177 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Meeting on Walnut Creek — Goes to Eastern Texas — ^Returns. 186 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
He knocks down a man in church — Status of "Freedmen". . . 196 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

He is sent to the mountains — First year on Kerrville Circuit . 204 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Incidents of two years on Kerrville Circuit — Many good meet- 
ings 217 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Incidents on Somerset Circuit 224 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
On Uvalde Circuit — Letters from J. S. Gillett and Bishop 

Marvin— French Smith 228 



Contents. 11 

CHAPTEE XXVIII. 

Second year on Uvalde Circuit — Trip with the Kev. Wesley- 
Smith, Superintendent American Bible Society 235 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
A fight with four Indians — The Bible and the sword 240 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Visit to San Felipe — Burial of young Pulliam and Evans 249 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
His temperance speech in Frio Caiion, etc 255 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

He is Bible-distributer— Dr. West's letter, etc 263 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Preaches at a military outpost — A man put in jail — Cruelty 

to prisoners 272 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

A make-believe Indian — Shot at twice from a thicket — He is 

unhurt 278 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
A dangerous difficulty with a desperate young man 282 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

A trip with Dr. Walker — He preaches at an outpost — Singu- 
lar proclamation 289 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
A terrible fight with a desperado at Boerne, Texas — He is not 

hurt 296 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
His visit to Mexico with his sick son — His son dies — Great 

sorrow 304 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Incidents on Bandera Mission — His charity, and its repay. . . . 310 

CHAPTER XL. 
On Kerrville Circuit — Goes with Dr. Walker, presiding elder 

— Good meetings 318 



12 Contents. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Incidents on Uvalde Mission — A Baptist minister, the Rev. 
Mr. Harris — Travels with the Rev. W. T. Thornberry, 
presiding elder 322 

CHAPTER XLII. 
Plis and Mr. Thornberry's travels, etc 328 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
Mr. Harris's letter, etc 338 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Mr. Gillett's chapter 351 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Dr. West's second letter, etc 362 

CHAPTER XLVI. 
A gambler's burial at night 368 

CHAPTER XLVII. 
A sermon from Mr. Potter 375 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 
His reply to atheist " Brnno" 395 

CHAPTER XLIX. 
"His cheerfulness, etc 400 

CHAPTER L. 
His letter from old Camp San Saba 408 

CHAPTER LI. 
His letter on the wing, etc. — A little grave 415 

CHAPTER LII. 
Mr. Miller— Ben Ficklin— Old Family Bible, etc 427 

CHAPTER LIII. 
His presiding-eldership — Closing treatise 431 

CHAPTER LIV. 
A chapter devoted to his wife 438 

CHAPTER LV. 
Ministers' wives, etc 443 

CHAPTER LVI. 
An address to young men and young ministers 448 



ANDREW JACKSON POTTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

Andrew Jackson Potter was born in Chariton Coun- 
ty, Missouri, April 3, 1830. He was the son of 
Joshua and Martha Potter, natives of Kentucky. 
Andrew's mother was his father's second wife, by 
whom he had seven children — four boys and three 
girls — Andrew being the third son. His father was 
in the British war of 1812, and he greatly admired 
the victorious hero of the battle at New Orleans 
(having been in that battle); hence the name of his 
hopeful son, ''Andrew Jackson Potter." 

In the course of events Mr. Potter moved to Car- 
roll County, and then to Clinton (now Gentry), on 
ITorth Grand River, where Andrew spent most of 
his early boyhood. Clinton was then a border 
county, and the facilities for an education were 
quite meager; indeed, there were rarely any school 
privileges; and besides, his parents were too poor 
to afford even the rudiments of an education to 
their children. About three months was the whole 
term of little Andrew's tuition at school. He, how- 
ever, continued to spell at private spare time, after 
leaving school, till he could read a little in an easy 
reading-book, but did not learn to write. 

(13) 



14 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

His father died about 1840, when Andrew was in 
his tenth year. At that age he was turned out upon 
the cold chanties of the world, an inexperienced 
boy, without any help, to earn his own living in 
the battles of life, his father's estate not leaving a 
sheltering home for those he left in the world. Be- 
ing entirely without any resources, he was em- 
ployed by a sportsman to ride horse-races. That 
employer learned his little employee three branches 
of his early education: the spelling-book, card- 
playing, and horse-racing. The most humiliating 
forms of vice generally hold dominion along the 
border of all frontier countries contiguous to the 
regions of uncivilized and savage life. The three 
grand agencies of civilization — the school, the press, 
and pulpit — do not plant their combined influences 
far out on the border, where settlements are sparse, 
and life is not safe from the arrow and the toma- 
hawk of the untutored savage. The reckless ad- 
venturer and the soldier must drive back the sav- 
age, and fix the central nucleus of communities, 
before the arts of peace and refinement go forward 
and erect their standards in the new fields " beyond." 
Usually, we believe, the preacher leads the van; 
then follow the school and the press. All along 
their pathway, as a golden zone, the virtues of 
Christian civilization shine. "Beyond" the dark 
clouds of vice spread their shadowy gloom. The 
avenues of sin are wide, ever open and easily found 
by the unsuspecting young, especially in border- 
life, where evil is not under the restraints which 
handicap it in the older states of society. Besides, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 15 

the fascinating charms of romance are draped about 
a frontier -life to the young mind; and where a 
mother's advice is not heeded, in the absence of a 
father's restraint, the young heart will naturally 
incline to identify itself with a roaming, unstable 
mode of society. 

The father of little Andrew was a frontierman, 
and transmitted his border proclivities to his son. 
;N"o law of our being is truer, surer than that we 
inherit the ruling elements of our ancestry. Chil- 
dren bred and born in the time of great wars in- 
herit the worst factors in humanity, and those born 
on the spheres contiguous to savage life, where life 
itself is ever in a state of contest to maintain itself, 
early develop a pugnacious and aggressive disposi- 
tion. 

Born with these predispositions, and early envi- 
roned by all the influences of semi-savage life, 
Andrew Potter easily ran into the mazes of sin in 
the outset of his career. Man, in his intellectual 
and moral make-up, is fashioned by his surround- 
ings. All his ideas, all his emotions, are awaked 
and stimulated to action by the outer world around 
him. On the wiWs attitude to mMives turns his ac- 
countability, and the consciousness of guilt for evil- 
doing, and the self-approbation for acts of virtue. 
Society everywhere is responsible for the moral and 
intellectual character of its young people. The 
means, the temptations, and the aids to a thriftless, 
ignorant, and vicious course, are furnished them on 
their entering upon the stage of life. The dance- 
house, the theatric-hall, the race-turf, the bar-room. 



16 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the gaming-saloon, and all other helps to worthless 
and dissolute habits, society stations on the way to 
entrap and ruin the rising generation. If the en- 
lightening and refining agencies are supplied to the 
youth, society must provide them: schools of high 
and low grade, churches, and all the learned books, 
and clean periodicals of the modern press — these, 
■with, all other novel aids of science and art, society 
must afford its youth, to insure the greatest harvest 
of a high-typed humanity — that of intelligence and 
virtue. 

Andrew's first decade on the earth having been 
passed amid the rude scenes of border-life, where 
men were daily armed with the deadly implements of 
predatory warfare, where and when schools and 
churches were little thought of, and having a natural 
inclination to combativeness toward an enemy, the 
disposition to fight early displayed itself in his youth- 
ful activities; yet there were other opposite, neutral- 
izing elements in his germinal character, which ever 
held a balancing and a compromising force in his 
conduct in all his later manhood. A deep sense 
of the right, a gentle sympathy for the wronged 
and the oppressed, unfaltering truthfulness, an un- 
dying regard for order, and honor, and true gener- 
osity — these several traits constitute the foundation 
of his remarkable character, which is so clearly elu- 
cidated by his strange and eventful future. These 
early inborn principles, hallowed and made predom- 
inant by our divine Christianity, make up the mar- 
vels of his wonderful later career. 

His mother was a communicant of the old Cal- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 17 

vinist Baptist Church, and early impressed his 
young mind with a kind of general sentiment that 
there was such a thing as religion and the Church ; 
but he formed no definite conceptions as to its na- 
ture and doctrines : so soon was he entirely inclosed 
by irreligious associations that he seldom heard it 
spoken of, and rarely ever thought of it himself; 
but when it intruded upon his reflections, it w^as 
soon dismissed as an inconceivable m3'stery, of which 
he could have no insight; yet he always felt that 
he was a sinner, having some undefinable interest 
in its unrealized facts. He formed no religious 
creed, nor indulged in any methods of skepticism. 
Up to the day of his conversion he was simply a 
bold, zealous man of sin, yielding to the strongest 
current of influences about him, and his heart's 
natural inclination; while the crj^ of reason was un- 
heeded, and the voice of the underlying better ele- 
ments of his nature was hushed amid the tumult 
and onward rush of the events of the day. Re- 
venge, a fearful monster, seemed delightful to him, 
where he thought an enemy had designed, or had 
trul}^ inflicted, a serious injury on his person or 
character, or that of his unfeigned friend. Coward- 
ice and cruelty he literally despised from childhood, 
and woe to the boy or man who displayed either 
in his presence along his march through the world. 
If he was fortunate to escape the pounding of his 
club, or mallet-like fist, he was sure to fall a victim 
to his keen-edged wit, or feel the smart of his poi- 
soned satire. Fear had no place in his composition. 
Energy of force characterizes his entire life in sin 



18 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and in religion. What he did, he did with energy; 
he was in earnest in the business activities of youth. 
He seemed to put new life into all things about him. 
When he ran a horse-race, it was a common saying, 
*' That it did not matter about the speed of the 
horses : the one that little Potter rides is sure to 
win." 

There were two other prominent principles run- 
ning all through his whole career, both in his high- 
est reach in sin, and in his later religious life — that 
of sincere devotedness to a friend, and kind atten- 
tions to the suffering, either friends or foes. He 
was never known to desert a friend, even in the 
face of the extreme of peril, nor to turn away from 
a sufferer when his attentions were needfuL In the 
palmy days of wickedness, his heart was moved at 
sight of human misery. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 19 



CHAPTER II. 

About six years of the young life of our juvenile 
hero were passed in the demoralizing practice of 
race-riding, gambling, and drinking : those periods 
in the life of a boy include the most vital of his 
formative state — from ten to his sixteenth year. 
Most young men have molded the shape of their 
manhood before they have passed their teens. If the 
main course of their life of evil habits is changed 
thereafter, it must be the result of some reformatory 
or regenerative force. The process of molding char- 
acter must be commenced when all of its elemental 
parts are in a soft and pliable condition, as when 
the potter shapes the fashion of the vessel out of 
the yielding, miry clay. Instruction, restraint, and 
active training, are imperious to form the model 
of a good character. Instruction imparts ideas, re- 
straint holds back from evil acts, and training is the 
practice of right deeds — all are needful in the edu- 
cation of the young, and must be undertaken from 
the cradle — no time is to be lost 'twixt the cradle 
and a matured manhood. Whoever may dare to risk 
the chances here, must do so at the serious peril of 
their dear child, and the hazard of their own sorrow. 

A pebble in the streamlet scant 

Has changed the course of many a river; 

A dew-drop on the baby-plant 

Has warped the giant oak forever. 



20 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

A multitude of little evil passions, tempers, 
thoughts, and acts of childhood and youth, mark out 
the channel of manhood, or give bent to all after- 
life. Alas, for little Andrew! he had not the re- 
straint of a father's discipline after he reached his 
tenth year, for then his father died.^ Just at the 
moment he most needed a father's counsel and con- 
trol, he was left fatherless, to drift out into the sin- 
ful world, a homeless and friendless stranger-boy, 
on a half-savage frontier, where little more than the 
most hurtful, forms of vice were daily seen. What 
else could have been expected of an undisciplined 
boy of ten years, in such a state of things, but to 
see him plunge headlong into the open vortex? Any 
other course would have been unnatural. 

how terribly awful is the responsibility of wick- 
ed men, who, by their example, and sometimes by 
their invitations, entice and lead the orphan-boy, or 
giddy youth, into the foul haunts of dissipation! 

We hope the reader will pardon us for making a 
digression just here, and pardon the immodesty of 
a personal reference to the writer of this narrative, 
as it is done to do good, by calling the attention of 
men of evil habits, who may chance to read these 
pages, to the danger, and their accountability, of 
leading the orphan-boy and the silly youth into the 
paths of ruin. Long years ago, in the city of ]N'ash- 
ville, Tennessee, the writer of this book was an in- 
experienced bo}^ and boarded at a house where sev- 
eral men often met at night to take a game of 
cards. They were unmarried men, about forty years 
of age. The house was the bachelor's retreat. The 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 21 

premises generally constituted a modern Sodom. 
South IN'ashville now covers the domain, and the 
parties are now all gone from among the living 
save the corrugated-featured old man w^ho penned 
this story. We had been to a Methodist Camp- 
meeting, and professed religion, and joined the 
Church, and began to read the Bible near the light 
on the small table on which they played their cards 
at night. Sometimes some of them would venture 
to ridicule religion — at one time they concluded 
their games with a mock prayer, one of them lead- 
ing audibly. In the close of their sacrilegious de- 
votions, the leader prayed for the little Methodist 
whose occupation placed him in their midst, saying 
that their evil example might lead him astray. One 
of their number, who was a man of learning, saw 
that they had ventured too far. Meeting me in 
private, he said that as I was away from parental 
counsel, and among bad men, he was constrained to 
advise me. Said he: "I see that you are reading 
the Bible. I am known in the city as an infidel; 
but I say to you, my little son, stick to your Bible. 
I see men who read and follow the Scriptures make 
a mark in the world. I am a bad man — formed 
evil habits in early life. Read your Bible, and try 
to follow its precepts." That honest gambler's coun- 
sel has followed us through the vicissitudes of nearly 
a half-century. 

Such advice might have been a godsend to young 
Potter at the threshold of his outset in life, on the 
border -plains of Missouri, w^hen he first left the 
abode of his widowed and penniless mother. But 



22 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

instead of being persuaded not to follow the evil 
habits of sinful men, a sportsman employs him to 
ride races, and allows him to deal in cards, and to 
drink the dangerous beverage. Six years of his 
maturing youth, spent in such habits, among vicious 
society, at the grog-shops and race-courses, must 
have greatly weakened his good principles, and 
powerfully strengthened the bad tendencies of a de- 
praved nature. It is not a matter of wonder that a 
boy of such training was inclined to stray deeper 
into a semi-savage life, when an opportunity opened 
up the way for him to leave his mother and kin- 
dred, and the scenes of his childhood, for the perils 
and hardships of war, and the privations and haz- 
ards of a thousand-miles trip across the desert-plains, 
infested by warlike Indian bands. The tenderest 
and the strongest attachments of childhood's heart 
cling to home — the natal-place, or the scenes of its 
earliest recollections — as those of the entwining 
vine grasp the twigs and branches of the tree about 
which it clambers. To detach them, is to sever and 
rend the most delicate, the purest sympathies of 
humanity. To become an orphan, is to have torn 
asunder all those tender endearments — it is to loose 
the magnet of central gravitation. To be father- 
less and motherless, truly is to be homeless. Earth's 
vocabulary contains no words of sadder import than 
" orphan," " fatherless," " motherless." " The lone 
bird, forsaken of its mother," in its woodland home, 
is not so sad a thing as an orphan-child. Deep in 
the shady woods, made of little sticks and fibers, 
fastened among the waving leaflets, is the birdling's 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 23 

nest. In that leaf-bound house day and night sits 
the scanty-fledged baby-bird, chirping, chirping the 
long, long summer - day, till night spreads its dis- 
mal shades over the timbered solitudes, when de- 
spair, like the dark of forest - night, crushes the 
birdling's heart. Death, in pity, soon ends the for- 
est - infant's grief. But, ah ! the long years of the 
homeless orphan's sorrows! man has no art the 
grief-filled tale to tell. 

But at the time indicated in our story little 
Andrew's mother still lived, and there are some 
untold facts associated with his earlier years which 
will throw some explanatory light on the apparent 
mystery of his seeming to readily forget all home 
and family aflanities for the companionship of wick- 
ed strangers. Those facts too may set forth the 
folly of parents showing partiality among their 
children: such discriminations never end in good. 
Much evil happened to good old Jacob for partial 
regards to the son of his old age. 

For several years Andrew was the youngest, and 
became the pet of his mother, which, as in the case 
of Joseph of olden fame, stimulated the other chil- 
dren to jealousy, and even to envy. So poor "Andy " 
was soon the scape -goat for bearing all the bad 
things of the rest of the children, and soon it was 
declared that he was the worst boy in all the neigh- 
borhood; and whether he was guilty or innocent of 
the charge, all the evil that was done was credited 
to "Andy." Once a minister visited his mother, 
when the usual amount of depravity was alleged 
against him. The minister, listening at the grave 



24 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

charges made upon the little miniature man, put 
his hand on his head, and said: "You all may say 
what you please about Andy; he'll make a man 
someday; he'll make a mark in the world yet." 
That greatly elevated the spirit of the abused little 
man. Whether that minister was a guesser or a 
prophet, he guessed right that time. In Texas 
"Andy " has made a mark not to be erased. A lady 
once said to his mother: " Mrs. Potter, Andy is tlie 
handsomest child you have." That again stirred 
his manly little pride and self-respect to be some- 
thing in the career of life. Meeds of praise are 
soothing to the spirit of childhood as well as of 
manhood, and often stimulate a laudable ambition 
to deserve and attain positions of usefulness in after- 
life. As the small dust on the balance determines 
its preponderance either up or down, so little words 
of censure or praise often determine man's eventful 
life. Encouraging applause for little meritorious 
deeds, fraught with an earnest prediction of future 
usefulness, are laid up in the memories of a boy, 
and often come as a giant to his help in the battles 
of life in long after-years — coming as a well-armed 
recruit: his failing energies take on new vigor, and, 
freshened with hope of success, he enters anew into 
the strife. But, on the other hand, frequent cen- 
sures, accompanied with ill omens of prophesied 
evils as the sure events of a boy's future in this 
w^orld, often discourage his hopes, and unnerve his 
energies in the hour of the greatest peril. But true 
merit and real demerit should be cautiously praised 
and wisely blamed in the life of a boy. But be 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 25 

careful lest you bestow too little on the one, and an 
undue share on the other. Amid all his wander- 
ings in after-life Andrew did not forget these early 
accusations and evil predictions, on the one side, and 
those gentle epithets of approval and hopeful an- 
ticipations of his ultimate position in useful spheres, 
and in the darkest days of adverse fortune their 
memory shed a beam of hopeful light on the gloom 
which hovered about the heart. Sad recollections 
crowding memory's page, after the death of his 
father, weakened and detached his fraternal affec- 
tions from those who, through home - like jealous- 
ies and child -like envies, had piled on his name 
such an amount of deserved and undeserved crim- 
inations; and he looked to the domain of non-kin- 
dred for those little heart-communions which flour- 
ish not but in the rich garden of home-life. Thus 
the attractive forces which usually hold youth within 
the domain of home-influences were mainly broken 
loose, and "gravitation turned the other way." 
Those dissolving and disruptive germinal agencies 
in the boy-heart must have well-nigh neutralized 
the natural feeling of fraternal affection in the long 
years of his youthful, reckless career. In all the 
great catalogue of names which the fame of the 
ages has handed down to us, Ave read of but one 
Joseph who seemed to forget the cruelty of his 
brethren, save that " Man of Sorrows," who " never 
reviled again." 

Having made the foregoing deflection and retro- 
spect in the order and line of our consecutive nar- 
rative, to let in light upon the occult causes of de- 



26 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

veloped character, we now return to our point of 
departure, to revel in the mazes of another six 
years' term in the life-daring events of our young 
hero. Here we find him just entering his sixteenth 
year, and becoming a soldier. Most of those six 
years are passed in great peril, while crossing and 
recrossing the great thousand-miles plains between 
Missouri and New Mexico and Arizona. In the six 
years he traversed these dreary, uncivilized regions, 
quite a number of times in the face of the untu- 
tored, unfriendly savage, making hair-breadth es- 
capes from the air -piercing arrow and the hurled 
lance of the cruel warrior. The arrow shall not 
hurt thee, nor the pestilence harm thee, if God be 
with thee in the dangerous day. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 27 



CHAPTER III. 

In the year 1846 a state of war existed between the 
United States and Mexico, and General Sterling 
Price was to march from Missouri to Mexico, oper- 
ating in ]N"ew Mexico and Santa Fe en route, An- 
drew, being now in his sixteenth year, volunteered 
to go on that perilous expedition. He entered Cap- 
tain Slack's company, and moved forward to Fort 
Leavenworth, where the troops were inspected, and 
none but able-bodied men were received into service. 
Andrew, being so young, and too small a pattern of 
physical manhood to be admitted into ranks as a 
knapsacked soldier, was taken into the Quarter- 
master's Department as a teamster. About the first 
of September, 1846, a train of wagons, drawn by 
ox-teams, and laden with army supplies, left Fort 
Leavenworth for Santa Fe, Andrew driving a team. 
For meritorious conduct he was tendered an easier 
position, which he declined. Soon after entering 
the unpeopled plains, where the wild Indian roamed 
unrestrained by civilization's laws, they were un- 
wise in not posting pickets to guard their camps 
from savage cruelty by night, and the wily foe ap- 
proached their camp under cover of night, and fired 
upon them: one bullet, passing through the lapel 
of Andrew's coat, killed a man standing by his side; 
but picket - guards ever after prevented another 



28 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

night alarm. Winter threatening to set in upon 
them before they could reach Santa Fe, it was de- 
cided that they should travel the Bent Fort route in- 
stead of the Cimerone. The Bent Fort road passed 
throuofh the Rattene Mountains, and was much the 
longest road, but afforded better timber, water, and 
grass — the Cimerone route leading over a vast arid 
desert. Their chosen way led them up the Arkan- 
sas River, and before reaching Bent's Fort they 
were surrounded and overpowered by the Cheyenne 
Indians. It was a feat of Indian chicanery and du- 
plicity. Pretending friendship, two of them came 
into the camp at early morn and took breakfast 
with the teamsters, and remained as friendly visit- 
ors. Teams were yoked and hitched to the wag- 
ons, and the train moved forward. Presently, two 
other Indians who were seated by the road-side, 
journeyed with the train ; again, larger squads joined 
them, and then other larger bands, in friendly atti- 
tude, till a seeming friendly host was about them; 
then suddenly three hundred tattooed warriors 
rushed on the train. Their bows strung, they gave 
the doleful, diabolical war-whoop, and demanded a 
halt. There were only about forty teamsters, and 
they had about twenty old-time fiint-lock muskets, 
and they were in the wagons ; so there was no chance 
for a defense. One tall Indian drew a bow at a 
venture, and cried, '' Wo! wo! Cheyenne shoot, 
by dam!" The front teamster, dropping his whip, 
ran back along the train, and each teamster in suc- 
cession retreated till reaching the rear, where they 
all huddled together awaiting their destiny. For 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 29 

three hours of awful suspense they were held by the 
savage men of the plains, looking each moment for 
the work of slaughter to begin. Many of them dis- 
mounted and let their ponies loose to graze. From 
the manner in wdiich they eyed Andrew, he thought 
it their intention to capture him and bear him off 
into the deep solitudes of the mountains, or the vast 
prairie-wilds, as he was a ruddy-looking lad. But 
Andrew did not exactly fancy that kind of a home, 
and keeping his eye on the best-looking pony, he 
intended to mount him and give them a race, if the 
work of massacre should begin. Young, and robust, 
and active, he could spring upon a pony as if he 
walked on India-rubber feet. Soon, however, it was 
ascertained that the intention of the savages was 
not to kill the men, but to lighten the wagons of 
their cargo. The chief made his men hold the train 
at a stand-still, and, by signs and words, gave the 
wagon-master to understand- that it was provisions 
he wanted, and not the men. The master tried to 
make a covenant -contract with the chief to give 
him a certain amount of meal and flour if he would 
leave, and never again infest his road. But the 
chief required more. At length a great cloud of 
dust was seen rising up in the rear, and the pent-up 
teamsters raised the distressing cry — to the wily 
Indian— "Soldiers! Soldiers! Soldiers!" The In- 
dians soon accepted the master's terms, and, laden 
with their captured plunder, hastened away and 
were soon lost in the blue depths of their wilderness 
home. It was not the dust bestirred by the hurried 
tramp of advancing troops, but that of another 



30 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

was^on-train, of which the retreating Indians had 
no knowledge. 

The man whom God has chosen for a special 
work in the world shall not fall a victim to natural 
or artificial agencies till that work is fulfilled, wheth- 
er he be preacher or soldier. A thousand may perish 
by his side, and ten thousand fall by his right-hand; 
neither the flying arrow, nor fiery, whizzing ball, 
nor wasting pestilence, shall slay him till his di- 
vinely assigned mission has been finished. Who 
can doubt a special providence? Every force and 
agency in the universe is at the Divine disposal, to 
carry out his wise designs, and all his own unlim- 
,ited, unoriginated energies. Sacred history gives 
us an analogous scene. Benhadad, King of Syria, 
had besieged Samaria, till the devastations of famine 
were about to force her to a surrender to Syria's vic- 
torious thousands; but as the victor king stretched 
out his hand to take the victor's prize. Victory 
turned her banners to the other side. Listen to the 
historic voice of ages: "For the Lord had made 
the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, 
and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great 
host; and they said one to another, Lo, the King of 
Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hit- 
tites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon 
us." Here it is said that the Lord had made the 
Syrian hosts to hear that noise: the tumultuous 
roar of hundreds of war-chariots and rushing steeds, 
hurrying to battle. Here the rushing, roaring winds 
must have made that battle-tumult, which put to 
flight the aftrighted Syrian bands; but the distant, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 81 

dusty clouds intimidate the brave Indian hosts, and 
send them on speedy retreat to the far-oiF mount- 
ains' sheltering shades. In the first instance, the an- 
gels of the winds, under divine control, cause the Syr- 
ian hosts to hear a storm-like roaring, by stirring 
the air into sudden commotions, or by special elec- 
tric touches on the drum of the ear of each soldier 
in the great army, so that his bravery is instantly 
turned into cowardly fear and bewildering panic — 
driving each into half-crazed alarms, and causing 
them to leave all their tents, munitions, and com- 
missaries, in their wild, precipitous flight, in the 
hands of their almost vanquished foes; and all that 
to fulfill God's predicted word by the mouth of his 
prophets, and to save the head of his faithful serv- 
ant. But in the Indian defeat, the sight of a cloud 
of dust in the distance disarms them of their savage 
fury, and they haste away from imagined dangers. 
One single flight of arrows, and defenseless An- 
drew and all his helpless comrades would have fallen 
bleeding victims to their barbarous rage, and all that 
vast train would have fallen into their hands, to have 
been driven into the far-off" desert solitudes. But 
no; a special protecting providence says, " ]^ot so; 
do not hurt my chosen;" and instantl}^ "the chari- 
ots of Israel," and ten thousand " horsemen there- 
of," are round about the object of divine protec- 
tion. 

Gentle reader, do you doubt a special providence? 
Then go to the rich bituminous plains on Sodom's 
ill-fated morn. Read the record. A special angel 
is sent to warn one man, God's servant, to flee the 



S2 Andrew Jackson Pottek. 

pending danger. He tells Lot to get out, for the 
day of doom had come. Look on the face of the 
distant horizon, as twilight's morning curtain fades 
into light. See that rising dark-blue cloud, spread- 
ing out its wings over the widened plains. Look 
at the fierce flashes of lightning along its advanc- 
ing front. Hear the fearful roar of hail and thun- 
der, and the dread rush of warring storm-winds. 
Look, see its hurried sweep along the skies. It 
draws nigh the doomed cities. The affrighted mor- 
tals run to and fro in the streets; others, in tremu- 
lous fear, gaze at the terrible scene. But O look 
at each end of the storm - wing ! see at each tip 
thereof a fiery-robed angel, holding in his hand an 
electric chain, curbing back the ranting storm-cloud, 
till something is done below. See, the lower angel 
takes hold on Lot, and says, "Haste, get away; I 
can do nothing till you are gone." Look, Lot hur- 
ries along; now he enters into Zoar, and the fiery- 
clad angels unloose their hold on the sulphuric 
tempest's wings. see its rushing fury ! hear the 
roar of its maddened winds. See the spiral dashes 
of streaming lightnings along the face of the roll- 
ing clouds. Look at the blazing, fiery hail pouring 
upon the cities, and the intervening plains, till all 
is in a w^orld of flame. Soon the ruin is complete 
and the burning earth sinks down and entombs their 
ashes and cinders in a bitter liquid grave. So it 
is written, "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Go- 
morrah brimstone and fire.'' Surely, a special inter- 
position of a gracious providence shielded Lot from 
that wholesale catastrophe which ruined Sodom. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 33 

Some of our earnest readers may not question a 
special guiding providence over the good, while in 
the path of obedience, yet many honestly question a 
shielding agency over those whom God, in his pur- 
pose, may have chosen to useful stations, while they 
may still live in sin. That postulate brings the 
question in hand to a direct issue. We claim that 
young Andrew Potter was God's called agent to 
plant Christian civilization along the frontiers of 
Western Texas in the period of his mature man- 
hood; and though his being exposed to the hazards 
of savage warfare was of his own choosing, and did 
lead him into much sin, suffering, and danger, yet 
the good and great Being did not see fit to do vio- 
lence to the decisions of his own free-will; he 
kindly preserved him from destruction in the hours 
of peril, with a view of his future obedience to the 
divine behest — though now in the path of disobe- 
dience; and, furthermore, the all-wise Being saw 
that he could and would cause his sad schooling in 
sin's rough and thorny road to result in fitting him 
the better for the sphere of his future operations 
as the agent of the gospel of peace. Therefore, 
Andrew Potter did not fall a bleeding victim to 
Indian cruelty in the day of danger. Jonah was 
the chosen of God; and though for disobedience 
the terrible monster ingulfed him, yet a special 
providence spared his life, and brought him to do 
the bidding of the Lord in warning Nineveh of her 
impending danger. The ancient King of Egypt was 
raised up from the deaths sent on his kingdom, 
while very sinful and wicked, that he might be the 
3 



34 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

medium of transmitting the name of Jehovah to 
after ages. Although Andrew Potter, in his young 
days of sin and exposure to such imminent peril, 
may not have been conscious of any design in him- 
self, or even thought of any divine intentions in 
regard to him, yet the sequel shows that the all- 
seeing Eye was upon him, as his chosen minister. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 35 



CHAPTER IV. 

During the short stay of the train at Bent's Fort, 
Andrew was attacked by that dangerous disease, 
*' camp-fever," and w^hen the train moved on it was 
lirst decided to leave him there; but the assistant 
wagon-master had formed a great attachment to the 
young man, and agreed to yoke and hitch up his 
team each morning, and loose them at evening, and 
let the sick youth sit in the front of the wagon, and 
command his team, which would follow the train. 
In that way he set out with the train from Bent's 
Fort toward Santa Fe, a distance of three hundred 
miles. He soon began to mend. Winter set in on 
them severely in the ravines of the Battene Mount- 
ains, and having frequently to lie by, it gave young 
Potter a good time to recruit his lost strength. The 
Indians having got part of their supplies, and on 
account of detentions in the mountains by ice and 
snow-storms, they had to be put on short rations. 
The cook was required to bake each one's cake sep- 
arately, and as near the same size as possible, that 
there might be no grounds for complaining. But 
sometimes one might seem a little larger than the 
others, when those who were more selfish than gener- 
ous'would desire the cakes that seemed to be larger. 
Among the teamsters there w^as a certain large bony 
man, noted for his cross-grained selfishness, who 



86 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

formed a dislike to young Potter, who was a favor- 
ite with the most of the crowd. This ill-natured 
man always contended for the largest cake of bread. 
One evening Andrew came in from herding the 
oxen, tired and hungry, and told the cook to give 
him his rations, and he would eat his supper. The 
cook handed him the one the stingy man had fixed 
his eye on for himself, and just as Andrew took 
hold of it, the cruel, selfish man knocked it from his 
hand, and it fell into small pieces in the sand. This 
brought on an encounter between them, and the 
stout man abused and bruised the boy's person. An- 
drew possessed a strong appetite for that bitter thing 
called revenge. That was the most objectionable trait 
early manifested in his character. It, being com- 
bined with his native combativeness, rendered him 
fearfully dangerous, when iwWy aroused to a sense 
of having been seriously wronged. He went off and 
whetted his butcher-knife sharp and keen, and when 
night came on he procured a seasoned oak wagon- 
standard. Being fully intent on revenge, he ap- 
proached the camp-fire where his antagonist stood 
with his back toward him, and struck him with the 
standard, from the force of both hands, on the back 
of his head, when the large man fell into the fire. 
At the same time he drew his knife to finish him; 
but other parties staid the hand of the angry youth, 
and pulled the fallen man from the fire. He, how- 
ever, soon became conscious, but was seriously hurt. 
This affray caused quite a division and stir in the 
camp, and the little offender was imprisoned in a 
covered wagon near by, where he could hear all that 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 87 

was said about the row. He could hear himself 
called a " mean, low-bred boy," and that he ought 
to be made to know a boy's place, etc. Tliat abuse 
only sharpened the boy's craving for revenge; so he 
found an old flint-lock musket in the wagon, raised 
the wagon-sheet, pointed it at the squad, and pulled 
trigger; but the powder flashed in the pan, only 
making a noise sufticieut to scatter the crowd. That 
raised such an excitement in camp that it seemed 
that a general mMee would ensue; but the wagon- 
master quelled it till the return of morn, when a 
consultation was held, and it was agreed that the 
master should rebuke the trespassing youth, and 
there it should end. Accordingly, the master said 
to him: "Andy, what did you strike that fellow so 
hard for? his head is nearly split open. You are a 
boy, and should keep in a boy's place." Andrew 
replied: " If it is my misfortune to be a boy, that is 
no reason why I should be imposed on. A man 
should keep in a man's place." Here the trouble 
ended, and the train rolled on its tortuous way amid 
the wild Indian domain. 

That rash act of our little hero — going behind his 
enemy to take his life — is the only seeming cow- 
ardly deed we find in the entire history of his life, 
from early boyhood to his latest manhood. As we 
have already stated, cowardice and cruelty he really 
despised from childhood; but in this single instance, 
the peculiar nature of the difficulty, and his strong 
love of revenge, got the better of his bravery. Be- 
ing physically unable to measure strength with a 
giant-like man, he saw no way to get the better of 



38 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

him but to hit him a stealthy blow. There are surely 
palliating considerations connected with the affair: 
the ill-natured, selfish man and his cruel abuse of 
the boy were greatly to be censured; but the boy's 
conduct was rash and reckless, and cannot be ap- 
proved by the strict rules of morals, and is at the 
same time a true development of that pugilistic 
character he ever displayed in after-life, till the day 
of his regeneration ; and even then, when he deemed 
it needful, he did not hesitate to chastise men for in- 
juries to others more than for self-defense. 

The winter being severe, the train did not reach 
Santa Fe till some time in January, 1 847. The army 
had already taken Santa Fe, but General Price en- 
listed the teamsters, and advanced on the Mexicans. 
Young Potter enlisted among the rest of his com- 
rades, and at the close of that campaign he remained 
in the service of the United States Government till 
1852. That part of the army to which he belonged 
operated in Arizona and New Mexico, and its duty 
obliged it to traverse the vast plains lying between 
Missouri and New Mexico, where thousands of sav- 
age Indian warriors roamed in quest of the scalp of 
the civilized pale-faced intruder. For five years he 
crossed and recrossed tbat dangerous Indian-peopled 
domain, having many bloody skirmishes with those 
cruel and vengeful tribes. He became skilled in all 
the modes and arts of Indian warfare. Having en- 
tirely recovered from the debility caused by that se- 
vere attack of camp-fever, he had matured into a 
robust and active young man. Indeed, truly was 
he an athlete in the raids on Indian bands. Really, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 39 

such a thing as fear seemed never to have had any 
place in his mental or moral make-up. The wild 
yell of the Indians' terrible war-whoop, sounding 
over the open plains, or echoing along the dismal 
mountain glens, struck no terror to his dauntless 
heart. In the face of their darting arrows, or amid 
their up-lifted lances, gleaming in the light, he fal- 
tered not, nor grew pale with fear while his com- 
rades-in-arms fell in blood and anguish beside him. 
Yea, in the rage of battle, in the hail-storm of lances, 
arrows, and leaden balls, in the midst of the dying 
wails of his partners, he fearlessly defied the heart- 
less savages till the voice of Victory calmed the rage, 
or called the contestants to a safe retreat. A braver, 
truer-hearted soldier seldom ever enlisted in the de- 
fense and protection of his country than young An- 
drew Jackson Potter ; yet he was endowed by nature 
with a feeling of sympathy and pity for the injured 
and sufi:ering as deep as his bravery was firm. When 
the war-strife ended, he laid aside its bloody robe, 
put on the garments of commiseration, and sought 
to aid the dying, or relieve the wounded. Never 
was he known to forsake a fallen comrade, even in 
the presence of the most alarming dangers. Though 
just passing into the full age of young manhood, he 
was a model soldier, and a fair specimen of pitying 
kindness to the distressed. When all tender atten- 
tions failed to relieve, and only death could quiet 
the agonies of the slain, young Potter was ever 
ready to perform the last acts of human kindness 
to the cold, pale corpse — to gently close the sight- 
less eyes, tenderly fold the rigid arms across the 



40 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

unheaving bosom, and commit " dust to dust " in the 
solitudes of the expansive wilderness, where no kin- 
dred's eye shall ever see the little head-board mark- 
ing the lonely spot where rests the fallen soldier's 
painless head. 

At one time the vengeful savages caught a strag- 
gler from the camp, and abused him with nameless 
cruelties: made him move on "all-fours;" having 
put a bridle in his mouth, they rode him as a pony, 
inserted their rough spurs into his side, and merci- 
lessly beat him, and finally, taking off his scalp, they 
left him alone, unpitied by human eye, till death 
ended all his misery. 'No tongue can tell, no pen 
can adequately depict, the bitterness of Indian hate, 
and the cruelty of their revenge. 

Many an unknown fallen stranger sleeps beneath 
the American frontier sods, who, in the day of his 
doom, was wept for and mourned over by living 
loved ones, who also have now passed away. Al- 
most- all the soils now tilled by Civilization's arts, 
and tramped by the enlightened millions of great 
cities, tenanted by the predatory roaming tribes of 
barbarous humanity in the days gone by, have been 
stained by the life-blood of the soldier and the hardy 
pioneer. Every vale and mountain-side of Western 
Texas has drunk up the warm, red blood of the 
adventurous, enterprising men of the border who 
have been slain by the stealthy Indian. Their graves 
are sheltered by the leaf-roofed mat, the shade of 
the great live-oak, or the slanting mountain dell; 
while civilized arts have driven the untutored red 
man nearer the unbroken solitudes of the Rocky 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 41 

Mountains. Onward still Progress drives her ag- 
gressive car to the hidden plateaus toward the Great 
West. Railroads are penetrating the old homes of 
Nature's thriftless children, driving oiF their game, 
and breaking up their wigwam villages, till hope 
seems to leave them naught but submission to Chris- 
tian refinement or a dip in the Pacific wave — ex- 
tinction. Away back in the old ages the changeless 
decree was revealed to mortals from the councils of 
heaven, " The gods which have not made this earth, 
nor fashioned these overhanging heavens, shall pass 
away from the earth, and from beneath these heav- 
ens; and the nations and peoples who will not sub- 
mit to the evangelizing reign of God's divine Son 
shall surely perish from the face of the earth." The 
wisdom and generosity of the civil government, and 
the pious zeal of the Church, may yet enlighten and 
elevate many of the remaining predatory tribes. 
Surely the human impulses of a grace-refined man- 
hood prompt to such a benevolent enterprise. 



42 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER Y. 

In the winter of 1847, Mr. Potter was detailed to 
eook for a squad of men who had been sent eight 
miles from Santa Fe into the pine-woods, to cut 
wood. While there, one of the men died of mea- 
sles, and young Potter was sent into town post- 
haste to get a conveyance to carry the dead man to 
his burial. He started on foot. On the way, he 
fell in company with a Mexican and two boys who 
had wood packed on their jacks. They had their 
axes with them, and they undertook to alarm the 
young man with menaces, or make-believe efforts 
to kill him. The man would make the boys raise 
their axes and pretend to aim a lick at his head, 
but would strike the ground near him ; and the man 
would draw his butcher-knife and motion as if to 
stick it in him, then take a large stone and draw it 
over his head, just missing it; and then the boys 
would try their axes again in the same manner— 
torturins: and tormentino^ him for several miles. 
He was without any means of defense. On arriv- 
ing at Santa Fe he secured a gun, and spent two 
days in searching for those tormentors, but could 
never come up with them. In such cases of cru- 
elty the young man's thirst for revenge was deep 
and bitter, and had he overhauled those imperti- 
nent Mexicans, they no doubt would have fallen 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 43 

at his hands. A Mexican's great weapon of de- 
fense and attack is his butcher-knife, and he does 
mortal work with it. He is generally respectful 
to Americans, and does his work of carnage in the 
shades of night. But in this instance, that Mex- 
ican must have held some national prejudice against 
the Americans occupying that country, and no 
doubt would have slain the young man had not 
fear of detection prevented his doing so; but he 
sought to satisfy his hate in torturing and alarming 
the unprotected youth. His moral instincts and 
sentiments raised that low-down Mexican only a 
grade above a savage. Hate which seeks relief in 
the torment of helpless youth is as cruel as the 
grave, and renders its subject a monster, or a de- 
mon in human shape. Mexico contains many no- 
ble specimens of a refined manhood, mingled with 
her myriads of greaser-tribes of low and vile in- 
stincts. Most of that class are spawns of a crossed 
or hybrid race. But even among these there are 
some humane and worthy outgrowths; but the 
worst grades are bad samples of the genus homo. 
Much of their want of the lineaments of refinement 
may be justly aw^arded to the depressing tendencies 
of a corrupt form of a national religion which strives 
to enslave its subjects in ignorance and vassalage. 

The grand gospel lights of a divinely illumined 
Protestantism are casting their radiant beams all 
over the great domains of Montezuma's land, and 
the dark shadows of ages are fading into the day- 
dawn. Soon the great railroad magnates of mod- 
ern times shall with iron bands tie the two late 



44 Andrew Jackson Potter 

republics into one unified brotherhood, constituting 
an enipired republic, ocean-bound. An age of great 
locomotion is to fill the earth with knowledge. 
"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall 
increase." Happy the day when the nations shall 
have learned the right, and attained unto the dis- 
position to obey its wise dictates! Look up, reader, 
and see, the morning cometh! 

In the youthful prime of an unrenewed heart, 
Mr. Potter felt that it was his birthright, due him- 
self, to follow his insulting assailant to the bitter 
death — to gratify the craving of revenge even in 
the destruction of the life of his escaped enemy. 
In his youth he must have been a noble type of 
physical manhood. He Avas now near, or quite, 
seventeen years old; but when fully matured, in all 
the perfection of life's prime, he was no doubt a 
man of great muscular powers — no surplus flesh, 
but symmetric in manly mold, and well-knit in body 
and limb; there was life in his motions, and fire in 
his eye. 

He is now in the fifty-first year of his age, and is 
about five feet eight or nine inches high; weighs 
about one hundred and fifty pounds; well clothed 
with muscles and sinews, and just enough of sound 
flesh to make up a stout, healthy body. Time and 
toils have made no wrinkles on his features; not 
a gray hair in his raven-tired head; his cheek still 
glows with the rose-tints of the morning — ruddy like 
young David in his early days, but now^ adorned 
in the unfaded hues of a firmer manliness; his 
forehead indicative of nerve and brain, his nose 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 45 

slightly aquiline, and his mouth, like Henry Clay's, 
of immortal fame, from ear to ear. A fine model 
for Grecian artist to enchisel the orator from the 
marble shaft. He never shaves — he wears a mod- 
erate crop of dark beard. No man of woman born 
ever looked out on the world through a pair of 
keener eyes; see them once and you can never for- 
get them — of a light bright-blue, as transparent as 
the unsullied morning ether, resembling at times 
the crystal -like glass marbles or the transparent 
prism. 



46 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER VI. 

We now give the reader Mr. Potter's own account 
of incidents connected with his first trip to Santa 
Pe, when a soldier boy: 

" We made slow but pleasant progress while pass- 
ing over the Cimerone Desert, till reaching the cross- 
ing of the Arkansas Kiver. At twilight we pitched 
camp on the opposite side of the river, and arranged 
our wagons as a barricade. The, moon shone dimly 
through a thin cloudy veil. While eating our even- 
ing meal, suddenly the alarm-cry rang out upon the 
night-air, ^ To arms, to arms! the Indians are upon 
us!' Their wild war-whoop broke the stillness of 
the night-shades all along the resounding river vales. 
They were only armed with bows and lances; we 
were armed with long flint-lock muskets. The wa- 
gon-master quickly formed us on the outside of our 
barricade. We had about sixty men; the Indians 
w^ere in large force. One-half of us only were or- 
dered to fire on the first charge. I was of that num- 
ber. The chief addressed us; but, not understanding 
his speech, we supposed that they designed some 
pretended friendship to gain an advantage. We 
remained silent, and they rushed at us. One-half 
of our men fired, repulsing them. My heavily- 
charged old musket kicked me back so rudely that, 
staggering, it was with great difiiculty I could keep 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 47 

my feet. My nearest comrade, seeing me careening, 
thought me wounded, and asked if I were hurt. I 
replied, 'Not much;' though I thought I had un- 
wittingly taken hold of the wrong end of my gun. 
I soon recovered. While reloading, the Indians 
made a charge on the other end of our line; but a 
quick fire repulsed them once more; and our end of 
the line again poured such a heavy volley upon 
them that they fled in dismay. Leaping over the 
bank, they plunged into the river, splash and dash, 
for nearly an hour, as a stampeded herd of wild buf- 
faloes. Quite a number of their ponies lay dead on 
the field of contest next morning. How many of 
the red warriors we slew, we could not tell, as they 
usually carry ofi" their slain, l^ext morning we saw 
their tattooed bands moving slowly away into the 
distant wilds." 

''As the train moved slowly on, I got into the 
careless habit of going on in advance, and grazing 
my mule a half or quite a mile ahead of the wagons. 
One day I was grazing my mule, and on looking 
around I saw a party of Indians coming at break- 
neck speed to cut me off from the train. I mounted 
my mule without doing up my long dragging rope 
— no time for that. I tell you, I got the speed out 
of my hybrid that time. My rope trailed the earth 
like the stream of a shadow along the plains. Though 
my animal could ordinarily overtake the affrighted 
buffalo, at this time it seemed inspired with the 
speed of Job's wild ass of the wilderness. ^N'ot 
treading on the trailing rope, he bore me whizzing 
through the air ; yet to me it seemed too slow a bus- 



48 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

iness, when darting arrows fell about me, and gleam- 
ing lances were uplifted to be hurled at me in a few 
moments more. Several mounted men, with the 
advancing train, seeing my fearful danger, sped to 
my rescue, and made the connection just in time 
to save my youthful scalp. The band of savages 
wheeled and retreated into the deep gloom of the 
wilderness." 

"In the latter part of 1847, I was employed as a 
nurse in the hospital at Santa Fe. On entering that 
phace, I saw an affecting scene: a large number of 
helpless men, sick of scurvy, measles, and pneumo- 
nia, were lying on narrow bunks crowded so closely 
together that there was just room to pass between 
them. My time of nursing came on the first part 
of the night, and it was an awful half night to me. 
Many of the sufferers, in their fevered delirium, 
would rise up and gather their blankets, saying that 
they were going home. By the time I would get 
them quieted, others would be crying out, ^ Good- 
by! I am going home!' at the same time making 
efforts to get up. Never shall I forget those dreary 
half nights spent there with the dead and dying. 
O the sweet thoughts of home, ' sweet home ! ' They 
came as a dream -charm over the fevered brain when 
visions of wife, babes, and loved ones at home, en- 
tered the mind. But me! I was an orphan-boy — 
a homeless stranger — and the world as seen through 
that soldier pest-house was dark and forlorn. 

"At length a train set out for Fort Leavenworth to 
carry home all the sick who were able to stand the 
long trip across the plains. I was one of the at- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 49 

tendants. As our ox-teams slowly moved up the 
hill, I took my last lingering look at the old adobe 
town of Santa Fe, with eyes dimmed by unshed 
tears, as I gazed for the last time on the graves of 
so many brave soldiers, who lay side by side on the 
tomb-covered hill beyond, not to arise till Death's 
long reign is past. Many of our sick died in the 
great wilderness, and we rolled them up in their 
blankets, and hid them in earth's cold clay, at in- 
tervals in our long journey from Santa Fe to Fort 
Leavenworth. Their unmarked graves are in the 
unsettled wilds of Nature's solitudes. Friends and 
dear ones at home know not of the place of their 
rest. When we wrapped their cold, dead bodies in 
their soldier-blanket shrouds, and shaped the grave- 
mound over them, the hardy soldier would per- 
chance moisten the earthen monument with a pity- 
ing tear. To me it was a terribly gloomy thought 
to leave them alone in savage lands, to be trodden 
under foot by the wild, roving bands of Nature's 
untamed children, in their merry dances over the 
dust of their vanquished foes, or gored down by 
the wild bufialo when jubilant over the defeat of his 
fellow. Then, too, no slab shall point out the little 
spot where the soldier sleeps, and no kindred eye 
shall ever see the melancholy place, nor come there 
at solemn eventide to shed a tear, and lament his 
fall in a strange land. O is Death's heart breaking 
to continue his reiffu over man forever? Is there no 
peaceful clime where long-parted loved ones may 
meet to part no more ? Is the grave an eternal victor 
over ruined man? Shall the bright stars of night, 
4 



50 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

from their far-off spheres, ever look sadly down 
upon the tombs of earth's fallen dead? The voice 
of Hope cries out, in strains as sweet as angels sing, 
* Thy dead men shall live again.' " 

"At Ash Creek we killed a buifalo, and one man 
crippled another so that it ran off and lay down, and 
on nearing it, it w^ould get np and run a short dis- 
tance and lie down again, till it got a mile or more 
from the train, the train still moving onward. Two 
footmen followed the wounded buffalo and butchered 
it. In the meantime I proposed to a Mexican and 
Joe McGuire that we go and assist in capturing the 
buffalo. Joe was a boy about my age. They read- 
ily agreed to go; and we wheeled our nags around 
and started off. But in a short time I had a present- 
iment not to go. Halting, I said to the other two, 
' Let us not go.' They insisted on my going, say- 
ing, 'Don't back out." I never liked the words 
"back out," but the impression not to go was so 
strong that I returned to the train. Joe and the 
Mexican w^ent on, and aided in the slaughter of the 
wild cow. They packed the meat on their horses, 
and started toward the train, now some four miles 
away. Soon a squad of Indians dashed upon them, 
killed Joe, hurled lances into the Mexican, scalped 
them both, took their horses, meat, and all, and fled 
into the depths of the wilderness. Some of the par- 
ty pursued the two footmen, but when they present- 
ed their guns the Indians retreated. Then the foot- 
men fired off their guns to stop the train. Presently 
they were seen coming at their utmost speed. They 
reached us nearly exhausted, panting for breath, and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 51 

told us of- the sad fate of Joe and the Mexican. A 
call was then made for volunteers to go in quest of 
the dead, and only eight were Avilling to go. I was 
one of that number. We hitched two yoke of oxen 
to a wagon, armed ourselves as best we could, and 
set out on the dangerous undertaking. Indian 
smoke-columns, which they used for signals, rose 
high in the air in many directions; and the terrified 
buffaloes were running and making the trampled 
earth tremble and roar as mighty thunders, running 
over their calves, and crippling and crushing them. 
But we moved on in the general confusion. When 
we found the place of carnage, the Mexican was sit- 
ting up in untold agonies. He had several shallow 
lance-wounds on his body, and a gory, scalpless head, 
the sight of which was as frightful as his pains were 
torturing. But alas! poor Joe was dead! He had 
received seventeen wounds, an arrow was fastened 
in his heart, and his bloody, skinless head was as 
raw as a butchered beef. Most of their clothing 
was taken with their crowns. We carried them 
safely to the train, and buried poor Joe on the mar- 
gin of Walnut Creek, leaving him to rest painless 
in his unknown grave till the last trump shall awake 
him from his lonely sleep; but we carried the Mex- 
ican to Fort Leavenworth. His scalp all healed over 
except the mold, but his sufferings were indescrib- 
able, and in about three months he died." 

These several extracts from Mr. Potter's manu- 
scripts, in memory of the sad events of his young 
life, set forth the prominent early traits of his de- 
veloping manhood. His native, unassumed valor. 



52 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

his self-possession in moments of peril, his obliging 
tenderness for the sick, and his respect for the dead, 
made a good foundation for his later life of piety. 
When their cook was taken with Asiatic cholera, and 
all others fled, young Potter never left him, but re- 
mained with and nursed him during a long and toil- 
some night. When Joe McGuire and the Mexican 
fell into the cruel hands of the blood-thirsty savages, 
he was among the first to seek to recover their re- 
mains from barbarous cruelty — risking his own life 
to secure the gory bodies of his dead comrades to 
entomb them. The sufferings of the sick soldiers 
at the hospital in Santa Fe, made an ineffaceable 
impression on his tender sympathies, while listen- 
ing to their illusive dreams of home; and the last 
heart-melting adieu of the cemetery, where so many 
soldier dead lie in silence to-day, should command 
the inspiration of the poet's muse in strains as sadly 
sweet as those of the " Maid of Monterey." His 
attachments to friends and associates in life were 
strong, and, unsevered by the pale chill of death, 
they united his boy aff'ections to the dead in the 
tomb, at sight of which he shed the farewell tear, 
though no kindred tie allied their memories to him. 
Reading the touching story, we thought of the " Sol- 
dier's Dream," and of Burns's " Soldier's Return; " 
and we cannot resist the inclination to transcribe 
a few stanzas of the latter, to rekindle in the heart 
of the reader the tender emotions which have nes- 
tled in bosoms once like unto our own, though now 
long since unfeeling and dead — emotions which 
long, long ago stirred up the fevered hopes of Santa 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 53 

Fe's dying soldiers when thoughts of returning 
home touched the heart-ligaments which bound 
them to its sweet memories: 

When wild war's deadly blast was blown, 

And gentle peace returning, 
With many a sweet babe fatherless, 

And many a widow mourning, 

I left the lines and tented fields, 

Where long I'd been a lodger, 
My humble knapsack on my back, 

A poor but honest soldier. 

With a clean, light heart within my breast. 

My hands unstained with plunder, 
And for fair Scotia's home again 

I cheery on did wander. 

The humble soldier ne'er despise. 

Nor treat him as a stranger. 
For he is all his country's stay 

In the hour and day of danger. 

The valorous soldier puts his life between his coun- 
try and its foes. His breast is the barricade to re- 
sist the assaults of its enemies. For her weal he 
gives up all the endearments of life, and when the 
banner of peace is unfurled, all home affections re- 
enkindle in his heart, and in his wild flights of fan- 
cy, when disease excites the brain, he longs to be 
at home. In the cheerful buoyancy of health and 
hope, he arms himself against the valiant foe; but 
there is a deadly enemy against whose subtle wiles 
the soldier thinks not to equip his mortal body — in- 
sidious disease. Contagion and deadly pestilence 
haunt the warrior's camp, and paralyze the manly 
arm. Death's gaunt angels breathe their mildew- 



54 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

blight on the sleeping soldier's tent, and disease pales 
him for the warrior's grave. 

We also see in these brief sketches marked proofs 
of a special providence over God's intended agent, 
who is to act a prominent part in warring against 
a mightier enemy in coming days amid other scenes. 
In all the strange events of peril, a guardian angel 
turns away the death-missile. Mr. Potter says, 
when he had started to go with Joe McGuire and 
the unfortunate Mexican on that fatal day, that a 
sudden impression was made on his mind not to go, 
and so powerful was its influence on his will that it 
overruled his former decision; and that too under 
the buoyant youthful tendencies to yield to the per- 
suasion of his young friend, who urged him not to 
" back out." He calls it a " presentiment." History 
testifies to the occurrence of presentiments of strange 
and wonderful events, in different ages, to many 
persons in high rank in life. No sane man can doubt 
the facts. Much has been written to assign to them 
efficient and natural, or intelligent, causes. A pre- 
sentiment is a special impression made on the sensi- 
bilities, or on the mind, and by acting on the will 
of a person, by some intelligent agent, to caution 
or warn that one of some pending danger, in or- 
der to so control the conduct of that person as to 
avoid that peril, or to inform that person of some 
happening event or coming transaction which may 
affect such a one either for good or evil. These cau- 
tionary impressions do not only happen now and 
then, as the mere result of blind accident, but they 
come before the mind just at the time their warn- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 55 

ings are needed to profit their subject, and must be 
kind interpositions of an intelligent and affectionate 
agent, or cause. We call it, in a general way, a 
providence, but to be more theologically and logic- 
ally definite, we state, the real efficient agent must 
be the divine Spirit himself, or some angelic agent, or 
both, or sometimes one and at other times the other. 
The Bible teaches both. The Holy Spirit is to lead 
us into all truth. David prays to be guided by the 
divine Spirit. Angels shielded the head of young 
Israel when resting on a stone, and wet with the 
night-dews of the great wilderness. Could not an 
angel, though unseen, touch the electric meshes 
about the will of young Potter so as to turn him 
arQund into a path of safety as surely as the ma- 
nipulating fingers send a thrill along the lengthened 
wires to distant realms? The unseen angel chari- 
oteers guided the " chariots of Israel and the horse- 
men thereof" along the hill-sides about the proph- 
et and his servant, in the moment of peril. When 
the immaculate Son of God fell on Gethsemane's 
cold bosom, under the pressing weight of a world's 
guilt, till the blood of death dripped from every 
pore, an angel's soft finger touched his breaking 
heart with a new life-thrill, which enabled him to 
endure unto the bitter end. The angel which stood 
in the way to turn Balaam from an evil path also 
reversed the purpose of his will, and made him bless, 
instead of curse, the chosen of God. So the angel 
of God turned young Potter from the evil hour. 



56 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CIIAPTEE YII. 

In the year 1851, Mr. Potter made his last trip across 
the plains to New Mexico from the State of Mis- 
souri. He was employed to drive an ox-team for 
the United States Government, starting out from 
Port Leavenworth in the spring of that year. Here 
we transcribe the incidents of that expedition from 
his manuscript: 

"A government train was litted out with farming 
implements and other appliances, to cross the plains 
to go to New Mexico, to open a government farm 
at Fort Union. I was employed at twenty dollars 
a month to drive an ox-team. We had an escort of 
soldiers, and the w^hole outfit was under the com- 
mand of Major Pucker. Captain Bowin and fam- 
ily were in the train. Just before the train started, 
the cholera broke out in the post, and our camp be- 
ing near, our men w^ere greatly alarmed and ready 
to stampede. A stranger came to our camp and 
feigned sickness. He lay down and rolled up in 
his blanket, and when asked what ailed him he 
would curse, and say it was nobody's business. He 
created quite an excitement in our camp, the men 
fearing that he might have cholera. He no doubt 
wanted to create that impression, hoping to fright- 
en the men so as to run them oiF, and thereby make 
hands scarce, and raise wages. At last, the wagon- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 57 

master siiid to me, ' Potter, can't you rouse that man 
up from there?' I answered, ' I can try.' I asked 
him if he was really sick, and he told me to ' go to 
h-11.' Some old, seasoned oaken clapboards lay 
near by, and I gathered one and lit in on him. He 
arose and ran, and my clapboard follow^ed him 
about fifty yards, hitting him at each jump, pop! 
pop ! Then the cholera excitement cooled down in 
our camp. But at last the dreaded moment came. 
Our cook w^as stricken down with that frightful 
plague late one evening, and every man ran oft' and 
left me alone with the sufterer. One man w^ould come 
near and I would go out to him and get the remedies 
to treat the poor suffering man with, which he could 
obtain at the post, such as fourth-proof brandy and 
pepper and vinegar. It was an awful battle for life 
the whole night. My great aim was to keep the 
cramp out of his body by rubbing his legs and ap- 
plying the stimulants externally and internally. 
The night being warm, I stripped him of his cloth- 
ing and rubbed him with all the power that was in 
me, till I would fall over from pure fatigue; but 
when the cramping pains would make the poor fel- 
low^ scream out, it would arouse me again to my tire- 
some task. Several times he would say that he would 
die, but I w^ould encourage him to hope. Memory 
can never conceal that terrible night. As day began 
to dawn the change came: he passed into a state of 
ease. When the sun's rays fell upon his pale and 
death -like features, he could barely use hand or foot; 
only life was left him. He got well and went home, 
and onward moved our train toward the plains." 



58 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

We do not remember to have heard or read of a 
more remarkable instance of disinterested kindness 
on the part of a young man than the one we have 
just recorded. Chivalrous youth has rushed into 
the face of extreme peril when hope has presented 
before it its chaplet of honor; young men have 
elevated their country's fallen standard in the pres- 
ence of the vanquishing foe, in the midst of a storm 
of leaden hail; but the honor of their country's 
name was to be lifted from the dust of defeat, and 
a meed of glorious renown stood glistening in the 
eye of their hope. We have read of the angel-like 
deed of that generous little maid who volunteered 
to deal out the commissaries to the poor, the sick, 
and the dying, from that house of death in the city 
of INTew Orleans, on those dark days when the an- 
gel of death had breathed his blasting chill in the 
fatal room; we have sung too of the seraph-spirit 
of the " Maid of Monterey," when that black-eyed 
senorita administered to the wounded and dying 
of her defeated country's foes, when thickly strewn 
along the battle-plain. These were females — true 
patterns of woman's native heart. Woman ! a body 
of pitying love; woman! when pain and death 
pale the brow, a pitying angel! yea, woman, model 
of celestial seraphs, and image of gentle angels 
in Eden spheres, where pain cometh not. But here 
we register a toilsome, night-long deed of a young 
man just entering his twenty -first year — when 
youth is timorous in the perils of disease of mor- 
tal name, and life to it is dear; when all its life- 
tide of feeling shrinks at sight of suffering and the 



Andrew Jackgon Potter. 59 

agonies of death. Here there were no motives to 
hold him in the tent of the plague's suffering victim 
but those of benevolent duty — a true morality. All 
men have fled in dismay, panic-stricken under the 
mingled power of the love of life and the fear of 
death. He was not bound to the plague-smitten 
man by any kindred tie save that of a common hu- 
manity, which imposed no stronger obligations on 
him than on those who deserted in the critical hour. 
He had not been taught that fame-deserving act by 
precept or example, and no hope of reward but that 
of danger and death could have been before him. 
That awful night-vigil and toil sprung spontaneously 
from an inborn benevolent feeling which melts at 
sight of human woe, of friend or foe. Loss of 
sleep, fatigue from toilsome rubbing of the death- 
panged sufferer, and the exhausting force of night- 
long, intense excitement — he would topple over 
from sheer debility; yet the cry of the death-like 
agony from his patient would renerve him for duty. 
The disinterested deed of that fearful nio-ht should 
be printed in the records of fame's glory-adorned 
temple; it should awake some poet's tuneless lyre 
which may immortalize it in song. How strangely 
do the extremes of two opposites meet in that mar- 
velous young man! Loving jpity and revengeful hate! 
At one time he is in pursuit of an antagonist with a 
death-dealing weapon in his hand, inflamed with all 
the dire intentions of murderous slaughter; at anoth- 
er time he labors to mitigate mortal anguish at the 
fearful risk of his own life, as if imbued with the 
spirit of Him who wept at sight of human woe. 



60 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Among the teamsters was a large man from the State 
of Kentucky. He was called " Ken tuck." He was 
rather a cruel man and, easily irritated. One morn- 
ing he became incensed against a little lad who was 
with the train, and taking hold of the boy he raised 
him from the ground and began to knock his head 
against the tire of a wagon-wheel. Potter, seeing 
the cruel act, stepped up, saying, " Do n't do that, 
* Kentuck ' — do n't do that! You will ruin the boy." 
The huge, giant-like Kentuckian let go the lad and 
began to curse and abuse Potter, saying, " Do you 
take it up?" in that instant feeling for his pistol. 
Potter, understanding his intention, being armed 
w^ith a "jack-knife," snatched it from its scabbard 
and made a stroke at " Kentuck's " back, inserting 
the point of the huge knife into his coat-collar, 
making a split to the tail of his frock, without dam- 
asre to the flesh. "Kentuck's" lower extremities were 
taking his body out of danger at the time that 
gleaming knife entered the collar of his coat. His 
quick and long strides saved his epidermis that 
run. Before "Kentuck" could get his pistol or 
turn to use his "Arkansas tooth-pick," they were ar- 
rested and put under guard. The train could not 
move till that quarrel was settled. The wagon- 
master inquired into the affray, and finally told 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 61 

" Kentuck " that if he did not agree to a settlement, 
one or the other must be discharged, and in that 
case he would be the man, as Potter was one of the 
best hands he had, and besides was not to be blamed; 
that he did not insult him, but kindly asked him to 
desist from his abuse of the person of a helpless 
boy; and furthermore said to him that when he 
had cooled off his anger he would look at it in that 
light himself. He then agreed to drop it, and a 
friendly hand -shaking ensued with the parties; 
teams were then hitched up, and the wheels rolled 
on their long prairie-road. " Kentuck " was ever 
after a fast friend to Potter. 

When daring men have encountered each other's 
rage, and felt or narrowly escaped the smart of 
each other's steel and then become reconciled, they 
usually maintain their friendly status to the end of 
life. In their dread contests they exhaust their 
magazine of bitterness, or else their friendship is 
mingled with a deep sense of fear and a kind of 
respect for each other's valor, which leads them to 
a delicate carefulness not to give just cause of irri- 
tation. * Enemies in great wars, after the terrible 
bloody strife is past and peace restored, and associ- 
ations of friendships are formed among those wdio 
bravely stood before each other's steel in the death- 
dealing hour, learn to love with endearing ties, till 
called to that land where swords and enemies can- 
not go. Certain species of vegetation eaten out or 
trodden down in the soils are succeeded by other 
kinds. So of the heart — hate being eradicated or 
quelled, kindness and love spring up therein. Even 



62 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

in early youth, Mr. Potter was a sure enemy of cru- 
elt}^, and must interpose to prevent or suppress it 
at the cost of his own peace and safety. His traits 
of youthful character enlisted the admiration of 
strangers. 

At another time two uncouth Irishmen fell upon 
a Dutchman, and got him down and were pelting 
him severely, when Potter interfered and pulled one 
of them off, and the short, stuhby Irishman pitched 
into him like a mad-cat, and scratched his face. 
Mr. Potter felled him to the earth, when the Hiber- 
nian cried out, "Do n't hurt me, Mr. Potter; do n't 
hurt me!" That was a timely prayer; he let him 
up, and hit him not. Potter was not in favor with 
Captain Bowin, and he notified him that he should 
report him to Major Eucker, who was on a bear- 
hunt. Accordingly, when the major came into 
camp, the captain went to his tent to report the 
youth, and Potter accompanied him to hear the 
issue. The captain laid before the major quite a 
mass of accusations against the young man. Major 
Eucker said, " Mr. Potter, I have heard the cap- 
tain's charges against you; now I want to hear 
what you have to say about them." The young man 
rehearsed all the facts in the case, wdiereupon the 
major sharply remarked, " Mr. Potter, it is eating 
bear -meat that has caused all this fussing in the 
camp; and now I say unto you, Mr. Potter, you 
shall not eat any more bear-meat unless that thing 
is stopped." The captain felt the keen edge of 
that humorous retort, and silently retired, not alto- 
gether in fellowship with the major's views. The 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 63 

major had a high regard for the elements of char- 
acter the young man had displayed in the affair: 
his sense of just and equal rights in not permitting 
two men to mercilessly beat and mangle one man; 
his sympathy for the sufferer, the vanquished; his 
indisposition to punish a fallen enemy. When the 
truculent Irishman pleaded for mercy, his plea was 
instantly granted, though he had tried his utmost 
to disfigure the face of his victor— ^as soon as the 
piteous cry reached Potter's ear, he staid his hand 
and let his defeated victim arise and go unharmed. 
These early rudiments of meritorious character were 
not learned, acquired — they were native, inborn; 
no school of ethics had taught them to him, no 
associations had imparted them to his young, im- 
mature mind. He was not yet fully developed in 
physical or mental manhood. He was just merg- 
ing from a boy into the young man, but he was 
endowed with more than ordinary native powers of 
each. He could dash upon the ground the thick, 
rough Irishman as if he had been a boy; and a 
knowledge of his great strength and dauntless 
prowess made him feared and honored in the camps 
and esteemed by his unenvious superiors. He w^as 
quick and shrewd in judging of men and things, 
and with proper training would have made a mili- 
tary man of great renown. The elements of char- 
acter just pointed out enter into the composition of 
great soldiers who have inscribed their names on 
fame's bloody scroll. 



64 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER IX. 

'' In 1851 we began our work at Fort Union. It 
was situated near a large spring which burst out of 
the earth. We called it ' the hole in the ground.' 
It was about ninety miles east of old Santa Fe. The 
depth of the spring had never been fathomed. It 
ran boldly off into a creek large enough to irrigate 
thousands of acres of land in the vale. There were 
no houses there — only tents. But when our train 
arrived, with all the implements for farming and 
building, the work went on with great haste. A 
saw-mill, run by horse-power, was erected; pine 
timber, from an adjacent forest, was cut and sawed 
into lumber for buildings; a number of plows were 
started to turn up the soil to receive the good seed, 
while others were engaged in cutting irrigating- 
ditches; and rapidly the great government farm was 
being opened up. 

"About that time a train of some twenty small 
wagons, drawn by oxen and milch-cows, came along 
and camped near the post. I went down to find out 
where they were from and whither they were going. 
I was very much surprised to find women and chil- 
dren in their camp — a strange sight in that distant 
wilderness. On inquiry, I learned that they were 
Mormons of the ' Olive-branch Division ' — opposed 
to Brigham Young — and were enemies to polygamy. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 65 

They were going to the month of Colorado River, 
in Lower California, where they had agreed to con- 
centrate and build a large city — the nucleus of an 
independent kingdom. Mr. Bruster, their prophet, 
had gone with a party one year in advance to that 
chosen location. They had a book containing the 
revelations of God to their prophet about their jour- 
ney across the plains. It did not allow them to re- 
sist the attacks of the Indians. The Lord was to 
shelter them from harm in all that perilous road, 
and no enemy should molest them. They believed 
that the great Rio Bravo del ISTorte, or Rio Grande 
River, was the silvery line that was to separate the 
righteous from the wicked ; that all east of it was 
the land of Bethsullie — the land of the wicked, which 
is now Texas. They predicted the downfall of the 
United States. But still she is erect. They taught 
that all west of that grand old stream was the home 
of the righteous, which the wicked shall never in- 
herit, as God had set it apart for the saints of the 
latter days. May be so. Mexico and California may 
yet be sainted. They had songs composed to ac- 
cord with their faith, which they sung with great 
animation, as. 

Low clown on the banks of Sedonia, 

Where love crowns the meek and the lowly. 

"I soon made up my mind to go with them to 
their celestial city at the outlet of the famed Colo- 
rado. They had goods to sell to the Mexicans en 
route; but they could not speak Spanish. They 
agreed to take me through free of charge, if I would 

trade their goods to the Mexicans. This I consented 
5 



66 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to do. I settled up with the quartermaster, and set 
out with that strangely deluded people in the long 
journey to the Pacific shore. We crossed the Pecos 
River at a little town called Anton Chico, on the 
west side of the Pecos. We encamped on the east 
bank, opposite the town. That night I did not stake 
my mule, but turned it loose with the other stock, 
with a drag-rope. Next morning my mule was 
missing. I was satisfied that the Mexicans had 
stolen him. I borrowed a horse and rode over into 
the town to inquire about my mule. After getting 
into the town, I looked back across the river and 
saw several Mexicans on foot, trying to rope my 
mule, which was coming out of a mountain-gorge 
above the town. It was trying to come to camp, 
but the four Mexicans were striving to head it oft'. 
The mule would dodge their ropes and run around 
them. I spurred my horse, running through gar- 
dens and fields which were not fenced, and plunged 
into the river. I soon dashed in among them with 
a ' pepper-box revolver.' The Mexicans drew their 
butcher-knives, or ' billdookies,' as they called them. 
As one of them ran at me, I shot him in the breast, 
and he fell to the ground. The others cut at me, 
but my horse would jump out of their reach. Just 
as I was pulling trigger at another of the thieves, 
all three ran ofiT, and I pursued, wounding two of 
them. But soon they reached the Pecos Piver, and 
took shelter under its bank. The fight was seen 
from camp, and some of the party ran to my aid; 
but the retreat came oft' before recruits reached me. 
My mule came safely into camp. We expected 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 67 

trouble from the Mexicans, but tbey did not molest 
us. A knife is their weapon in bloody strife, and 
they use it dexterously, but they fear fire-arms. 

" We soon reached the division-line, the noble old 
Rio Grande River, and traveled down it and crossed 
over into ' Sedonia,' the sun-bright clime of these 
saints, at the town of Socono. Here they found a 
number of their brethren who had preceded them 
the year before. At this place they erected an arbor, 
convened a conference, and arraigned their prophet, 
a Mr. Bruster, for false predictions about their new 
empire. The trial lasted several days, and resulted 
in his expulsion as a false prophet and an impostor. 
There was great confusion and division among them. 
A number desired to go on, and some decided to 
remain at Socono. Our party moved on its way 
down the west bank of the Rio Grande River until 
w^e reached the little town of Santa Barbara, Avhere 
we w^ere to take Cook's road to California. Here 
another division occurred among them, and only 
seven families decided to continue their journey. 
Winter was approaching, and I declined to go on 
with so small a number. I then made up a company 
of twenty-six men to explore the mines in Arizona. 
The Mormons who refused to go to California went 
with us. We reached the mining regions at Santa 
Rito del Cavera, near the old copper-mines. We 
soon erected a rock fort to protect ourselves from 
the attacks of the Apache Indians. These mines 
had been worked years before that period. Great 
tunnels had been cut into the mountain-sides, and^ 
deep shafts let into them. We did not have the 



68 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

needful machinery to work the mines; we could 
only wash the dirt in the beds of the ravines. We 
found some gold, but not enough to pay for the labor. 
''A Mexican and myself went out one day, to look 
after our stock, and came up with two Indians. We 
exchanged shots with them, but neither was hurt. 
The Indians hoisted a white flag, and called the 
Mexican to come to them. I objected to his going, 
but he said there was no danger. On his reaching 
the Indians, who were only about one hundred yards 
from me, one of them put his gun against the Mex- 
ican's breast and shot him through the heart, and 
he fell dead from his horse. I had a German ' yor- 
ger,' the longest range gun in use at that day; I took 
deliberate aim and fired, bringing one of the cow- 
ardly poor wretches to the ground, and seeing a 
crowd of Indians coming over the hill, I had to re- 
treat to the fort. We sent out a party of our men 
in the afternoon and brouo:ht in the unfortunate 
Mexican, and buried him near our little rock fort. 
After remaining there about five weeks, I found I 
could accomplish nothing by a longer stay, so I got 
five or six men and went back to the Rio Grande, 
and spent the winter at the little town of Santa 
Barbara. Here we bought corn and beans and such 
things as we could get to live on until spring. As 
spring approached, we went down to Fort Fillmore, 
about sixty miles above El Paso. At this place 
I armed and equipped seven men to escort me to 
San Antonio, which took all the means I had. On 
the 17th of March, 1852, we set out on our perilous 
journey." 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 69 

III all Mr. Potter's dauntless valor, we are deeply 
impressed with his cool and deliberate caution in 
the midst of danger, his accurate knowledge of hu- 
man nature in general, and his deep insight into 
Indian and Mexican treachery. When those de- 
ceptive Indians raised the flag of peace, Mr. Potter 
was not deceived thereby, though the poor Mexi- 
can was led by it into instant death. In all his bat- 
tles with either Mexicans or Indians, he was never 
decoyed into danger unawares. Once when in the 
service of the United States Government, a Mexi- 
can spy came into camp as a citizen-friend, and, 
though but a boy, Mr. Potter clearly read his inten- 
tions, and when he went to depart, Mr. Potter took 
him prisoner and marched him to head-quarters. 
When the older troops suspected no harm, the boy- 
soldier's suspicions were rightly founded, and his 
judgment and valor saved their camp. 

It is no matter of wonder that young Potter 
should go with that olive-branch of Mormons un- 
der the circumstances. He was then about twenty- 
one years of age, a homeless orphan-stranger, an 
adventurous young man looking out to see what 
was in the world, and in search of its El Dorado, 
He had no ties of kindred attachments to bind him 
to any associations. The presence of cheerful fe- 
males and merry children, which is a novel sight to 
a hardy soldier in a savage land ; the air of romance 
woven around their story of that semi-celestial Si- 
donian land, their New Jerusalem on the distant 
Pa(;ific shore; the future renown of their new em- 
piric, stretching from the banks of the Ivio Grande 



70 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to the Pacific wave; the personal honors of the 
humble subjects of the new kingdom, bestowed on 
them by a superhuman hand, of which they sung 
hopefully around their night-lires while encamped in 
the wilderness, en route to their new Eden home: 

Away down in Sidonia's land, where love crowns the lowly; 

that they had a holy book telling of the uprising of 
the glory-adorned empire; that all the land east of 
that Heaven-favored clime should come to desola- 
tion ; that they would carry him through free of 
charge if he would do their trading with the Mexi- 
cans on the way — in view of the confiding nature of 
his young mind, and the sad fact that he had no 
knowledge of the Bible, no religious creed, the 
marvel is that he did not adopt their faith and join 
the band of " Latter-day Saints." He did not adopt 
their fanatical, romantic faith. The fiict of his nat- 
ural gifts, and a gracious providential care, can alone 
account for his strange escape from that wild, fas- 
cinating delusion. ]N"ature had given him strong 
reasoning forces, which greatly aided him in throw- 
ing aside the insidious charms of air-castled imag- 
inings of a deluded fanaticism. His native per- 
ceptions were clear-eyed, and he looked beneath the 
veil of surface-beauties to view bottom facts, and 
the light of an ever-present beneficent Spirit enabled 
him to see the vanity of that gossamer creed. Here 
the innocent child sees the thorn when its dimpled 
hand is outstretched to grasp the blooming rose; 
it begins to taste the bitter lying under the sugar- 
coating of the whited pill ere it has swallowed it 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 71 

down, and with dusgust and dread turns away from 
bush and pill unhurt, but wiser as to the deceptive 
glare of this world's outward glories. 

Our hero is filled with an inexhaustible store of 
energy of purpose. Defeated at one thing, he is 
ready to try another. He tries the inspiring gold 
project. Failing there, another scheme is in his 
mind to engage the activities of his restless, un- 
tamed, unsettled nature. What future experiment 
illumined the horizon of his hopes along Texan 
skies is not apparent, but some unrealized better 
future must have loomed up along the heaven of 
his plans to lead him there — an invisible, secret 
agency, inspiring thoughts and creating glowing 
hopes in the mind as a luminous mirage on life's 
arid sands, leading and guiding to a wonderful fut- 
ure in a strange, and by him an untrodden, land. In 
his long, hazardous route to Texas, he passes through 
the wilderness-world where, in the roll of years, he 
is to lay deep the foundation-stones of an empire for 
Him whose kingdom is to last to the end of the ages. 



72 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER X. 

Having spent six years of his maturing youth as a 
soldier, and having become tired of the perils and 
hardships of a frontier camp-life, Potter armed and 
equipped seven men besides himself, at his own 
expense, to escort and guard him to West Texas, 
the then nearest point of civilized life. After a 
dangerous journey through a trackless wilderness, 
they reached San Antonio in the year 1852. On 
arriving at San Antonio, our hero was a model of 
iron-sinewed young manhood. Having just passed 
six years in camp-life on the high and healthy pla- 
teaus of New Mexico and Arizona, he was the im- 
personation of good health, but, to use his own 
phrase, " a moral wreck." He said himself that he 
found he was not fit for civilized society. He could 
read a little, but could not write his name. Having 
practiced nothiug in all his past life but sporting, 
fighting, gambling, and drinking, and having heard 
nothiug but the rough and blasphemous language 
of soldier-circles, he clearly saw the wide space be- 
tween intelligent society and the rude state of bar- 
barism. He said that the intellectual refinement of 
San Antonio was much in advance of his anticipa- 
tions, and its manifest superiority and his semi-bar- 
barous habits quite dispirited his ambition, and 
weakened his hopes of attaining an equality with 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 73 

the American element of that polite city of the 
West. He consequently returned to his habits of 
gambling and drinking, and soon grew worse in- 
stead of better under the shadow of great cathe- 
drals and the domes of mammoth churches — for the 
bar-room and the gaming-saloon were in close con- 
tiguity to those proud temples of a pageant-robed 
gospel. Satan ever plants his altars of ruin where 
God's saving temples are erected, as sure as the 
thorn is near to the rose. It is an easy matter for 
sinful men to resist the good impulses given them 
by gracious influences. The Divine Spirit no doubt 
awakened the long stagnated better elements of 
young Potter's nature. Tired and sickened out with 
quasi savage life, the hunger and craving for better 
food was readily stimulated into being, and the op- 
pressed factors of a higher nature moved the will to 
choose a purer life, and those divinely awakened im- 
pulsions resulted in his determination to migrate to 
Texas, the scene of his future strifes and triumphs. 
No doubt his arrival at San Antonio would have been 
the dawn of a reformatory day with him — the be- 
ginning of a new era in his history — had he but 
yielded to the desires enkindled by the Spirit of 
God for associations of a higher, a purer grade. 
Just there was the pivot on which turned several 
more years of sin and deeper degradation. Great 
door-shutters turn round on the bolts of small 
hinges; so on the fine pivot of the will turns the cliar- 
acter, the destiny. Right here Andrew Potter snapped 
the tender ligaments of divine guidance and re- 
straint, and yielded himself to the baser propensi- 



74 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

ties of a depraved heart and the tempting allure- 
ments of an outside evil world. With all the aids 
to a virtuous life in this refined age, society fur- 
nishes the temptations and provides the means to 
lead astray and ruin her unsuspecting children. 
When our young hero entered the thronged streets 
of San Antonio as a pilgrim, seeking a city of 
peace and delight, had there been naught but schools 
and churches — no well-trod paths or smooth-paved 
ways to the haunts of vice, no bar-rooms, no gam- 
ing-houses, no temptations on her sidewalks — then 
he had begun to rise on the upward instead of de- 
scending on the downward grade. Finding all 
these paths to a sinful life open and firmly paved, 
and daily thronged by gay, silly thousands, he 
readily fell into the tide of their infiuence and 
drifted rapidly into the dark vortex, where the garb- 
age and slum of polluted men meet and mingle in 
hellish glee in the gloomy-screened dens of whisky 
and rum. Jonah ran off to the uninhabited seas 
when God called him to go to Nineveh and preach 
its doom, but young Potter declined into the seas 
of iniquit3^ How long a period of time may have 
elapsed between Jonah's flight to a sea-faring life 
and his obedient return to the discharge of his di- 
vine call is not stated, but our young man remained 
four dismal years in the deepening sinks of vice. 
The plain of sin leads into ever-increasing gloom, 
as inclined grades reach into lower and still lower 
vales. He had just escaped the perils of wild beasts 
in the mountain forests, the perils of robbers on the 
lonely plains, the dangers of roving Indian bands; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 



Vo 



but now he is captured by the deadly foes mingled 
with the grades of civilized life, Avhen in a dark 
moment despair of reform seemed to spread its sable 
veil over his hopes. How strong the attractions of 
sin! It is the spirit of the power in the air that 
now worketh in the children of disobedience, or 
in disobedient children. 

If the Federal, the State, and the municipal gov- 
ernments would remove temptations from the youth- 
ful path — close all bar-rooms, demolish gambling- 
saloons, obliterate all race-courses, and establish 
orphan and stranger's homes, schools and asylums, 
in their stead, then would the car of progress mount 
a higher plane. Many thousands of promising 
young men, nobly gifted by nature, and even learned 
and polished by art and grace — the proudest hopes 
of paternal love — are attracted by the fascinating 
glare of those palatial dens of moral demons just 
when their life's destiny is on the pivot on wdiich it 
closes or opens to the incentives of virtue; they 
turn from the door of virtue and enter that of sin, 
to come out no more. Whether young Potter had 
any clear ideas of a higher sphere of associations for 
himself than this world's, or even confused notions 
of such a thing, wdien he first reached the city of 
San Antonio, is not clear to our mincl ; but it is evi- 
dent to us that a benign Providence steadily fol- 
lowed him, as it did Jonah, in all his self-chosen 
retreats into sin, managing and guiding wisely to 
the gate of reformation without violently forcing 
the free action of his will. 

The noble gifts with which nature had endowed 



76 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

him were not to be lost forever to virtue's fame, as 
the luster of the gems which the dark unfathomed 
caves of ocean bear, or the sweet perfumes of flow- 
ers born to blush unseen, and waste their sweetness 
on the desert-air. Grace will yet unveil the spark- 
les of the one, and fill the Church with the odors 
of the other. His uncultivated intellect, strong in 
native capacities; his undaunted bravery; his un- 
feigned heart-tenderness for the helpless; his strong 
dislike to cowardice and cruelty, all make a good 
foundation, on which grace has erected a noble 
character. True Christian courage and a heart to 
melt at sight of human woe are two grand elements 
in the character of a soldier of the cross. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 77 



CHAPTER XI. 

Leaving San Antonio in the year 1852, Mr. Potter 
visited a brother who lived near the head of York's 
Creek, in Hiiys county. Here he had a long and 
severe spell of typhoid fever. At one juncture of 
the disease he thought he might die, and called for 
a Testament, that he might try to read something 
about the future state of man to which he thought 
he might soon have to go. Helpless man, how doth 
he seek light when nearing the gloom of the grave! 
On his recovery his medical bill amounted to sixty 
dollars, which rendered him insolvent, having spent 
about all his gains in equipping and paying his 
guard from Arizona to San Antonio. He told his 
doctors that they had guessed well at the value of 
his horse, but that they could not get him; he 
couhl not part with his last tried friend, but he 
would try to make the money and pay them. He 
went to driving an ox-team at fifteen dollars per 
month, hauling lumber from Bastrop county to San 
Marcos. He soon earned a good mule, which he 
gave to liquidate that claim, and then he was free. 
While staying at York's Creek, he went to hear a 
little Methodist preacher preach in that vicinity — 
Rev. I. G. John, now editor of the Texas Chris- 
tian Advocate. The appearance of the little, youth- 
ful preacher, with his keen, penetrating black eyes, 



78 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

deeply impressed him for good, and the text was 
printed in capitals on his memory's page. It is 
legible there to-day: "Who is the wise man?" That 
day opened the door of religion to him. He never 
forgot it. It planted deep among the rubbish of 
his soul an undying regard for the young man or- 
dained of God to call sinners to repentance, and a 
slight faith in that mercy which might be extended 
to him some time in the days to come. Ever after 
he would go to hear his py^eacher wben an opportu- 
nity offered. In going to Bastrop after lumber, he 
made the acquaintance of, and on the twenty-fifth 
day of August, 1853, was married to, Miss Emily C. 
Guin, a native of Missouri. For awhile he labored 
to earn a living, but the clouds of adverse fortune 
hovered about his way. He gave way to despond- 
ing views, and began to fall back into his old horse- 
swapping, gambling, racing, and drinking. A fop- 
pish braggart of a land agent came riding up to the 
grocery, one evening, and proposed a horse-swap. 
He was dressed in style, with a large golden chain 
pending from his watch-pocket, and was riding 
a good horse. Mr. Potter had a splendid-looking 
horse, though it was permanently lame. The fine 
gentleman inquired, " Is there no chance for a 
trade?" There stood the crowd. Mr. Potter was 
dressed in cottonade trousers and hickory shirt. A 
man remarked, " That man there," pointing to Mr. 
Potter, "may trade with you." The land agent 
looked at Mr. Potter, and said, "I can cheat him out 
of his boots." Mr. Potter told him his horse was 
in no trading plight; that in running him over 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 79 

rocks after cattle, the cla}^ before, he hxmed him a little, 
though he would be all right in a few days. The 
men standing by indorsed the story, and the trade 
was made. The man being a httle doubtful, said 
to Mr. Potter, " Now, if there should be any thing 
wrong about this horse, where shall I find you?" 
Mr. Potter replied, "You will find me at this gro- 
cery ; I office in there." Sure enough, the braggart 
found out the fraud, and returned for a rue. But 
no; he had ensnared himself that time by his own 
folly. Mr. Potter refused to exchange. The stran- 
ger tried to frighten him into terms; in that he 
had found the wrong man — Mr. Potter was inca- 
pable of fear. He calmly said to the rich stranger 
(for he was a rich man), "I have kept that horse 
hitched up here day after day for just such a case as 
yourself, and you came along, and unsolicited bit 
at the bait, and now you are caught." He began 
to grow furious, when Mr. Potter said, "Hold on! 
do n't say any more ; you have said enough." Those 
quiet words, full of meaning, calmed the rising 
storm. The defeated man went off, but returned 
next day. Entering the grocery, he did not speak 
to Mr. Potter (who was in the room) until after 
looking around awhile, when he said: " Mr. Potter, 
come up and drink. You have traded me out of 
my horse, but it was my fault, and I am able to 
stand it, and there is no use to fuss about it. Come 
up and drink with me." So there they buried their 
rising difficuU-y in the fumes of the destroying 
poison. 

Not long after settling in Bastrop county. Potter 



80 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

found out that his favorite little preacher lived 
within four miles of him, and was going {to preach 
not far from his home. He went to hear him, and 
ever after, when Mr. John was to fill the pulpit, 
he would deny himself a Sunday horse-race to hear 
him preach. He seemed to have no regard for the 
pulpit ministrations of any other man; the germ 
of that first sermon he heard on York's Creek re- 
mained in his heart, ever vegetating and threaten- 
ing to crack the surface-soil; hut he continued to 
overlay it with new sinful deeds, until that great 
revival at Croft's Prairie, where he was converted. 

When his strongest partner in vice (Smithwick) 
joined the Church, his mighty, sinful fabric felt the 
shock, as some great building is shaken when its 
principal girders give way. He went to the meet- 
ing, some ten miles, though with no good inten- 
tions. There the archers hit him, and he got 
Smithwick to walk away in solitude with him to 
tell him all about religion. One was happy, the 
other was grief-smitten. He had undoubted confi- 
dence in his deserted, happy friend, and when they 
were alone, where none but God and angel-bands 
could see or hear, he said to him : " If you will say 
to me upon the honor of your soul that there is a 
reality in this religion, I will seek for it." Smith- 
wick said to him it was true, and urged him to be- 
gin at once to seek as others had done who were 
then happy. He resolved to do that, but said he 
must first return home after his wife. Smithwick 
feared if he went home he would not return; but 
no, the arrow was in his soul. While at home he 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 81 

had a trial : the horse which his wife was to ride could 
not be readily found. She asked him if he was 
ready. He replied no, adding that he could not 
find the d— — d horses. " There now! " she said, 
"you have lost all your religion." Deeply morti- 
fied, he replied, " It shall be the last." Sure enough, 
it was the last word in his profane vocabulary. His 
w^ife returned with him to the meeting, and joined 
the Church with him, as will be seen in another 
chapter. 

While he was standing under the conscience- 
storming appeals of Mr. John's sermon, as seen else- 
where, a Baptist gentleman by the name of Lieu 
Holbert approached him and invited him to the 
altar, and just then Smithwick came up and insist- 
ed on his going, but the poor sinner was chained to 
the earth ; he could not move. He said to his 
friends, '' I cannot go." He was then assisted to 
the altar — a wounded, crippled soldier of sin. But 
now he forever deserts his old master. Mr. Hol- 
bert was much delighted and greatly rejoiced to see 
the chief, the captain-general of vice in the com- 
munity won over to the Church. After Mr. Potter 
embraced religion and joined the church, Mr. Hol- 
bert said to him: "Now I can invite 3"ou to my 
house ; the latch-string is now always outside for 
you. Come, and you are welcome. Heretofore, 
such were your habits and your associations, I could 
not invite you to my house. Now you are more 
than welcome." Mr. Holbert was a politician, and 
Mr. Potter had been his advocate and supporter 
among his grocery associates. Mr. Holbert used to 
6 



82 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

say to him in his campaign : '' Mr. Potter, I cannot 
treat, but here is some money; buy melons for my 
friends " — which he did. Years after, Mr. Holbert 
moved to Washington county, and when Mr. Pot- 
ter had become a traveling preacher he called to 
pass the night with his old Baptist friend and 
brother in Christ. It occurred on this wise: he 
had made a hard day's ride to reach the house of a 
Methodist preacher, and got there at evening twi- 
light, intending to remain all night. After the 
usual greetings, the good brother said: "Brother 
Potter, I reckon you will have to stay all night; but 
the old woman is not well, and I suppose you and 
I can do the cooking," etc. That was enough for 
Mr. Potter. He said: " I will not have to stay; it is 
about four miles to Brother Holbert's, and though 
fatigued, I shall go there." The brother saw that 
he had made out a. clear unwelcome to the itiner- 
ant's mind, and said, "Brother Potter, don't leave 
ray house that way." It was too late; his decree 
w^as not to be repealed. He found a cheering wel- 
come at the plentiful home of Mr. Holbert, and 
next morning, when the parting greetings were 
said, he laid in the good-by hand some material 
aid to the messenger of Christ. 

In the case of that Baptist brother there is a 
Christian example worthy of imitation by the com- 
municants of all Churches. He rejoiced to see sin- 
ners won to Christ, even though they were not 
immersed as taught in the ritual of his own denom- 
ination, and ever made good men feel a hearty wel- 
come to his private hospitalities. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 83 

There is one circumstance in the foregoing nar- 
rative of Mr. Potter's horse-trade with that boastful 
stranger that wears a shade of wrong, which, as 
a Christian moralist, we cannot pass by with silent 
approval, lest we might lead our young readers 
astray in the line of morals — duty. The great cus- 
tom of exchange in commerce is morally legitimate 
within certain limits. The exchange of a horse is 
as proper as that of any commodity within the 
sphere of trade. A horse in the common market 
may be valued at one hundred dollars, but another 
valued at seventy-five dollars may suit my special 
circumstances better than the first one. In that 
case, a fair change of property is proper if both 
parties are agreed, and there is no art of deception 
employed in the transaction. But to resort to any 
eflbrts of deception is fraudulent and criminal. 
Trading for gain is quite alluring to the young mind, 
but let not our youthful readers be led away into the 
mazes of deceptive arts, to make a gainful trade in 
any thing. A life unspotted from the cradle to the 
grave is a gem which the roll of eternal ages can 
never dim. An illumined path, along which no 
cloud spreads a shadow, leads to endless day. That 
which unregenerate Potter did with sinful glee is 
now spurned by Christian Potter with pure disdain, 
and, though the blood of the atoning Lamb has 
washed all its guilty stains away, yet if he could, 
Mr. Potter would gladly undo the evils of his life, 
and remove their shadows from memory's retro- 
spective path. Young reader, how sweet the 
thought to memory's taste tliat you have done no 



84 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

harm in the world, injured no one, caused the fall- 
ing of no tear, made no heart feel a pang! But if 
you sin you can never taste that nectar-drop. Sin 
imbitters the sweets of life, and hangs a dismal 
gloom between the cradle and the grave. Set out 
in the career of life, dear young reader, with this 
motto upon your banner: "I shall aim cautiously 
to do no harm to my race." Determine that the 
world shall not be worse because you have lived in 
it, but strive to make it better. Be positive; do 
good; then shall your conscience approve, and God 
and angels will love and bless you. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 85 



CHAPTER XII. 

The community of which Mr. Potter has spoken in 
another chapter as being so wicked was on Akim 
Creek, in Bastrop county, and the place of preach- 
ing was in Croft's Prairie. There was scarcely a 
religious organization there; the old Hard-shell 
Baptists preached there once a month, and had 
some members there, and the Methodists claimed a 
few. Old Brother Leed Rector was class-leader 
and steward, but was a leader almost without a 
class. He and old Aunt Cilia (an ancient colored 
sister) would meet, sing and pray, and rejoice. Broth- 
er Rector was a man of stern integrity, a precious 
good man, and Mr. Potter had a great regard for 
him, and always greeted him politely when they 
met, but when he was intoxicated would hide be- 
hind the grocery door-shutters when Mr. Rector 
was passing by. Having sold some pine-timber to 
a man who owned a saw-mill, reserving the small 
trees in the bargain, Mr. Rector learned that the 
man was violating the contract by cutting the ex- 
empted timbers, and sent him word not to trespass 
on the reserved timber. The man said if old man 
Rector came up there fooling with him he would 
horse-whip him. That ugly reply very much upset 
good old class-leader Rector's better nature; he was 
in a muddle — a quandary. What now could he 



86 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

do ? He was being imposed on; the reckless man 
was slaying his young pine-trees in violation of a 
plain stipulation, and was going to chastise his old 
frame if he went up there to talk about it — enough, 
indeed, to stir up the old Adam in him, if he had 
any left to be raised up; and besides, he was class- 
leader, and must not fight; and it was too much to 
be " cow-hided " in one's old age, on one's own 
premises, and about one's own rights. Truly, it 
must have been a puzzle to the veteran churchman. 
But he ferreted it out at last, and laid his plans for 
help. He knew Mr. Potter; so he mounts his old 
Conestoga and rides down to the grocery, where 
Mr. Potter spent most of his time. To the gro- 
cery? Yes, he rode to the grocery for help. He hails ; 
Mr. Potter, as usual, steps behind the screen to 
hide from the old man. He inquires, " Is Mr. Pot- 
ter here?" ^' He is," was answered. Yea, he is 
here; no chance to dodge now. Mr. Potter steps 
out — " Here I am, Mr. Rector." Then the white- 
headed sire made known the object of his visit to 
the grog-shop, saying, " Mr. Potter, I do not want 
to get you into a difficulty, but I w^ant to ask a 
favor of you. There is a man trespassing on my 
rights, and he threatens to horse-whip me if I go 
up there to contend for them. I am an old man to 
take such a drubbing, and I thought I would ask 
you to ride up there with me, and see it w^ell done." 
Mr. Potter politely replied, "Certainly, Mr. Rec- 
tor, I will go with you." Accordingly they rode 
up there, and found the man literally slaying the 
forbidden timber. Mr. Rector told him he was vio- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 87 

lating his contract, and that he had come up to take 
that horse-whipping, and had brought Mr. Potter 
with him to see it well done. Mr. Potter then said 
to the trespasser that as to the timber he and Mr. 
Rector could settle that, but as to the drubbing the 
old gentleman was to take, he had come to take 
that, and Mr. Rector might stand aside; he should 
manage that part of the settlement himself. The 
gentleman, knowing Mr. Potter, knew that meant 
" business." That was enough — he came to terms 
at once, saying he would pay for what he had cut, 
and would cut no more. That saved the old man's 
epidermis. Returning, by way of remuneration 
the old gentleman gave Mr. Potter a good moral 
lecture. It was not the intention of Mr. Rector, as 
he truly said, to get Mr. Potter into a fight, or to 
get him to chastise the trespasser on his rights; 
but knowing Mr. Potter himself, and knowing that 
the offender knew him too, he took that course to 
prevent a conflict; for, indeed, he well understood 
the powder of Potter's name to quell all such ripen- 
ing strife — all beasts of the forest slink away in 
fear at the approach of the lion. Among the many 
redeeming traits in the character of Mr. Potter, in 
his worst days, is that he never made an attack on 
an innocent man — never was aggressive on the 
unoffending. His conflicts have ever been with the 
trespassing, the hurtful. The terror of his name 
has been a prophylactic against evil deeds. 

As time rolled on, bearing its busy millions along 
in the crowded marts of trade, lowering one here 
and elevating another there, our dissipated hero 



88 Andrew Jackson Pottee. 

grew no better, but under the sure law of retro- 
gression he passed from bad to worse down sin's 
widening road, and there seemed little hope of a fut- 
ure reformation from his long course of evil habits. 
The grocery, the gaming-table, and the turf, con- 
sumed nearly all of his waking hours. Day after 
day he was there, mingling with the slum of grog- 
shop life. The blasphemous squad, the drunken 
sots, and the gaming sharpers, were his constant 
whisky-house associates. Among them he was as 
king, and with that medley of humanity he was in 
frequent rows and fights, which often brought him 
before the mayor's court in the town of Bastrop, 
where frequent fines and costs ate up his trading 
and gambling gains. These are the petty courts 
referred to in the Rev. Mr. Harris's letter, in another 
chapter of this book. The low state of his finances 
led him to devise the vocal concert, as narrated 
below, to replenish his wasted funds. Here we ex- 
tract from Mr. Potter's papers, and let him tell the 
reader his own story of that farcical aftair: 

" The circumstances giving rise to the concert in 
Bastrop, under the name of ' Signor Blitz,' were as 
follows: Almost every time I went to town I was 
invited over to the mayor's ofiice, charged with vio- 
olating some corporation law. The mayor. Judge 
O'Connor, was a good-hearted man, and generally 
let me oiF with a moderate fine. On a certain oc- 
casion the city marshal got a writ for me, in which 
I was charged with riding on the sidewalks, and 
creating a noise on the streets. I told him he had 
better deputize some gentlemen to arrest me — that 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 89 

if he undertook it, I should hurt liim; hut he per- 
sisted, and I struclv him down, knocking out two 
of his teeth. I tlien told them all 'to hands ofi';' 
that if they would let me alone I would go to the 
mayor's office and pay my lines, wiiich I did, being 
followed by quite a large crowd. I walked in, and 
told the mayor I supposed I was in his debt some, 
and was ready to settle. He said I was charged 
Avith two oifenses, and that he would fix the fines at 
five dollars and costs in each case, and I paid off 
the bill. It was Saturday eA^ening, and I managed 
to dodge out of town before they could arrest me 
for striking the marshal. I went back to town the 
next morning, knowing they would not disturb me 
on Sunday. I saw the mayor, and told him I would, 
come in, plead guilty, and submit the case to him. 
So I went, according to promise. I tried to slip in 
along a backway, to prevent attracting attention 
and gathering a crowd about the mayor's office, but 
I was discovered, and quite a number rushed into 
the room. I addressed the mayor, saying I had 
come for another settlement, and telling him I had 
been a good customer, and thought he should let me 
off as lightly as possible, when he said : 'Andy, I have 
sent on for your land-warrant for your services in 
the Mexican war; I think it will be on in a few 
days.' I said: 'Contrive the Mexican war ! it is 
this miserable corporation Avar that is bothering me 
now; I want to know what I owe you.' He re- 
plied: 'Andy, you know that it is a very serious 
matter to strike an officer when in the discharge of 
his duty.' 'If your Honor please, I don't know 



90 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

any thing about that; I only want to know what I 
am going to have to pay.' 'Well, Andy, I have 
considered this case in the light of all the facts, and 
I have come to the conclusion to impose a fine on 
yoQ to the amount — ' (and here he paused). 'To 
the amount of what? if your Honor please,' said I; 
'I am getting very anxious to get through with 
this settlement.' ' Well, Andy,' he then replied, 
' there are a combination of circumstances con- 
nected with this anomalous affair; and, as mayor of 
this city, it is my duty to see that the laws are duly 
executed in. the name of God and liberty and munic- 
ipal authority.' Here he assumed an unusual amount 
of gravity, and said, 'I fine you five dollars, and no 
costs.' I instantl}^ drew out the money, and said, 
' Sir,w^e can trade; here it is.' That decision brought 
down the house, and the farce ended with a hearty 
laugh. 

"These oft-repeated fines began to weaken my 
finances, and I had to put my wits to work to get 
my money back. It occurred to me that I might 
humbug the town with a concert. Knowing that 
I would have to assume some big name, I selected 
that of 'Signor Blitz.' I learned afterward that 
Blitz was not a vocalist, but a necromancer, or sleight- 
of-hand performer; but the citizens seemed not to 
know any better than myself. I made out the fol- 
lowing programme: 'Signor Blitz, from the Lon- 
don and New York theaters, respectfully informs 
the citizens of this place that he will give one of his 
celebrated entertainments at the court-house, at 
early candle-lighting, on next' Saturday night, to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 91 

which the public are respectfull}^ invited. The ex- 
traordinary vocal powers of Signor Blitz has been 
the theme of universal commendation throughout 
the ^N'orth, and in Havana, as well as in Europe, 
where his concerts have been honored with the pres- 
ence of royalty and nobility. He bears about his 
person a medal, presented to him by Her Britannic 
Majesty, Queen Victoria, at a private concert which 
he gave at Windsor Palace. The whole is to con- 
clude with a laughable and stirring piece. Ad- 
mittance fees: for grown persons, one dollar; for 
man and wife, one dollar and fifty cents; for chil- 
dren and servants, half price. Front seats reserved 
for the ladies.' 

"I went to the printer with my programme, and 
let him into the secret, engaging him to print all 
the hand-bills I wanted, including a long list of 
songs, for seven dollars. I got every thing ready 
by Friday night, Saturday night being the time set 
for the great concert, as there was to be a horse- 
race in town on that day, and I knew I would catch 
a large crowd. So on Friday night, after every 
thing was quiet, I slipped stealthily around and 
tacked up my hand-bills all over town, on the doors, 
and posts, and fences. I then rode out, and scattered 
them along the roads leading into town. Next 
morning the first thing that attracted attention was 
the bills announcing the grand vocal concert at 
night. I was much amused during the day at hear- 
ing the discussions about the grand things they 
were to witness that night. I had to employ a 
door-keeper, and divulge my plans to him. Near 



92 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

sunset I began to prepare for the splendid farce. 
My doorkeeper procured me an old-fashioned ' claw- 
hammer ' coat, a pair of tight-fitting' trousers, and an 
old cap, and then blacked my face. In this garb I 
entered an office in the court-house. My porter 
lighted up, and the anxious crowd began to assem- 
ble, and soon tilled the house, and began to stamp 
the floor for me to come out. I thought I had bet- 
ter have the thing over, so I w^alked out and began 
to sing a negro-minstrel song. I did not know but 
that I might have to fight out of the scrape, so I 
had armed myself with a revolver and a bowie- 
knife. No one recognized me, but a certain doctor 
advanced with his pistol, and said, 'I want to know 
who you are.' I put my hand on my revolver, and 
told him to take his seat, and I w^ould tell him who 
I ^vas at a proper time. He obeyed me. I thought 
then that I had carried the joke far enough, and pro- 
ceeded to say: 'Ladies and gentlemen, inasmuch as 
Signor Blitz has failed to attend, I thought I would 
give you the best entertainment I could. I am 
simply A. J. Potter. I think I am now^ about even 
with this corporation.' Then they laughed, roared, 
and stamped, as if they would tear down the house. 
They took me ofl:' to the bar-room, and made me 
sing until one o'clock; then they took soap and 
Avater and washed the blacking from my face, and 
reclothed me. So the thing ended. 

" Several years ago, at the session of our Annual 
Conference at Gonzales, I had the pleasure of meet- 
ing my old mayor. Judge O'Connor, Avho now re- 
sides near that city. I was in the post-office, and a 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 93 

gentleman stepped in and, looking me in the face, 
said, 'Mr. Potter, you have gone back on me; you 
do not seem to know me.' ' Sir, if I am not mistak- 
en, I was brought before your Honor often enough 
when you was mayor of Bastrop to remember you 
now. This is Judge O'Connor, is it not?' The usu- 
al greetings then passed between us. The judge is 
a noble man, and one of my life-long friends. He 
carried me in his buggy to supper at his neat home 
some two miles from the pretty little city of Gon- 
zales." 

That remarkable " take-off" of a farcical concert 
was truly a bold and hazardous enterprise with the 
citizens of a corporate city, but it only marks out 
the fearless daring and large stock of native humor 
of the man, and of his strange, natural power over 
men. It also gives us a little insight into the con- 
dition of early Texan society, and its extreme fond- 
ness for sport, fun, and almost any kind of amuse- 
ment. A merry, jolly life is characteristic of na- 
tive Texans. Feasting, dancing, shows, and all 
kinds of theatrical exhibitions, will attract a crowd 
even now in almost all the dense settlements, and 
at that early day no doubt such things were more 
popular. Mr. Potter struck the right vibrating chord 
when he devised the plan of his great concert to 
draw a crowd. The race-turf, too, held a prominent 
place among the sports of that day; and it is even so 
yet in mau}^ places where a higher moral element has 
not grass-sodded the old beaten race-paths. Their 
exquisite taste for joke and fun led them to cheerfully 
give up their dollar door-fee, to be repaid in a number 



94 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

of funny songs at the bar-room, all of which were 
richly spiced, no doubt, with a good supply of the 
cheerful stimulants of the bar. 

There must have been too a mingled fear and a 
sort of respect for the man, in the minds of all men 
who knew^ him. Anybody but the wonderful Pot- 
ter would have been arrested or miserably abused 
by the crowd of citizens that Saturday night. There 
were brave men there, but he was known to be the 
bravest of the brave, king of valor. He never 
sought to evade the penalties of law by precipitous 
flight. He ever tried to cheapen his tines to as low 
a rate as possible, to lengthen out his finances as 
far as might be done, and he generally succeeded in 
his efforts. 

Mr. Potter must have entertained some unkind 
feelings for the city marshal, wiiich caused him to 
refuse to submit to an arrest by him, and led liim 
to strike him to the earth when he persisted in the 
forbidden job. The marshal must have been an 
unpopular officer, or the fine for striking him would 
have exceeded the little sum of five dollars and 
" no costs." It never entered Mr. Potter's plans to 
commit any crime of a high grade against law^, and 
yet his manner of life and the class of his daily 
associates endangered his life almost every day, or 
might have imposed upon him the necessity of 
taking some one's to save his own; but in all his 
drunken or sober affrays, nothing more serious than 
painful knock-downs occurred. But let not the 
young reader in the least think his example in these 
things worthy of imitation; neither the shrewd 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 95 

plan nor the humorous phijfulness of the scene 
comports with pure morals. There is a rebound to 
ocean's wild wave, and Mr. Potter was nearing the 
end of a long, sinful career — a rebound into a new 
and better life.' 

"I once lived neighbor to an old German who 
was in the habit of whipping his wife. He would 
beat her with a club, as one would an ox. One 
cold afternoon, my wife told me that she had seen 
old Mrs. P. going in the direction of a neighbor's 
house, all bruised and bleeding, and said that her 
old man had been beating her with a club. There 
was a fearful norther blowing, and it was very cold. 
I said to my wife that I would go over and see if I 
could settle the difficulty. It was getting dark 
when I reached the place. I found the old woman 
sitting by a fodder-stack, crying and sobbing most 
piteously, and shivering with cold; the cruel old 
man had the door barred, and would not allow her 
to enter. She could speak but very little English. 
I approached her and asked, ' Won't the old man 
let you in?' She answered, 'No, no; nein.' I said 
to her, 'Come on, I'll see that you get in.' On 
reaching the door, I knocked, and said, 'Let us in.' 
He muttered out something which I understood to 
be a refusal, so the door being made of clapboards 
and hung on wooden hinges, I soon burst it open. 
The old cruel wretch was sitting near the fire, and 
having a rock in my hand which I had picked up 
in the yard, I threw it at him, striking him in the 
back of his head and knocking him into the fire. 
I instantly sprang, and jerked him out of the ilre, 



96 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

laid him on the floor, straddled him, and said, 'Whip 
vrow, no good.' He screamed manfully, and the 
old lady began to pull me away from him, and I 
left them to finish their troubles alone. The old 
lady said that her man was not conscious until 
about midnight; that she poured water and vinegar 
on his head all night. When he got able to walk, 
he Avent to a justice of the peace and made com- 
plaint against me. He said: ' Dot Botter beesh von 
bat man; he kums on mine house, und sthrike me 
on der cope mit a sthone, und I '11 ish bleed. Me 
no vash tink of mine goon ober der door, or Ish 
moken shoot mit him.' The magistrate, knowing 
that he had abused his wife, led him out to a pile 
of clapboards near the door, and said: *Now, sir, if 
you do n't go home and behave yourself, I will take 
one of these boards, and wear it out on you; and if 
ever I hear of your whipping 3^ our wife again, I 
will get Potter, and come over and hang you to a 
limb.' I never heard of his mistreating her any 
more while I remained in the community." 

The pill was a bitter one, but it was effectual in 
breaking up the disease ; but inveterate evils require 
severe remedies. Mr. Potter, as a semi-official, 
usually conquered a peace. The last discharge 
from his battery silenced all opposing ones, and 
peacefulness was enthroned again. His serious 
chastisino; methods resulted in such memorable vie- 
tories that they ended all future strifes. Their 
final benefits to society in a sense deprived them 
of guilt, and elicited tacit public approval. By the 
infliction of private pains and penalties on evil- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 97 

doers, he became a sort of public benefactor, to 
whom society sometimes felt itself no little in- 
debted for his encountering and subduing the cruel 
and the lawless; for in many instances no legal 
means were used to prevent or suppress misdemean- 
ors, or higher grades of crime. 
7 



98 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



I 
CHAPTER XIII. ^ 

It will be seen in this chapter that Mr. Potter was 
enlisted in the grand cause of Christianity in the 
year 1856, at the great camp -meeting in Bastrop 
county, which lasted nearly if not quite a month, 
mainly by the united labors of the Rev. Charles 
Thomas, who Avas in charge, and the Rev. I. G. 
John, now editor of the Texas Christian Advocate. 
Here we shall take our seat, and let Mr. Potter hold 
a love-feast or a class-meeting with the reader, by 
telling his own striking experience: 

" We are commanded to give a reason for the 
hope that is within us; and when the great Apos- 
tle of the Gentiles told his experience, Fehx trem- 
bled, and King Agrippa said, ^Almost thou per- 
suadest me to be a Christian.' As my conversion 
to Christianity is a marvel to some who knew my 
former life of wickedness, and almost a wonder to 
myself, I shall briefly state my own view of the 
natter, and some of the connecting circumstances 
my arrest in the path of great wickedness. In- 
1, I was a moral wreck, and my case seemed 
>st hopeless. But as I had never had any mor- 
traints thrown around me from early boyhood, 
aving had even the benefits of good society; 
- heard but little preaching; having never read 
3 chapter in the Bible — in fact, could scarcely 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 99 

read at all, and could not write my own name; hav- 
ing never seen a Sunday-school; I had imbibed no 
religious theory, had formed no creed; neither had 
I entertained any infidel notions, nor was I gospel- 
hardened. I only knew that I was a wicked sin- 
ner, and that it was nobody's business but my own, 
thinking that no one had any right to interfere or 
meddle with my affairs. So it is seen that I had 
much to learn, and a long way to travel to get into 
the Church. I was converted, or born again, at the 
great camp-meeting in Bastrop county, in the year 
1856. The community was one of the worst I ever 
saw. For many years the gospel had struggled to 
reform the people with but little success. Perhaps 
I was the ringleader in sin. On the Sabbath-day, 
large crowds under my leading would assemble at 
the grocery, and drink, get drunk, blaspheme, fight, 
gamble, and horse-race. A young man by the name 
of Smithwick and I seemed to have an afiinity for 
each other, and went, as it were, arm in arm in the 
deepest iniquity, and never forsook each other in 
the most trying perils with desperate men. Hav- 
ing just escaped a bloody affray with a dozen or 
more of them against us two alone, Smithwick said 
to me: 'Potter, you and I have well-nigh run our 
race; it is time to stop; I am going to reform.' 
These w^ords struck with great powder on my hard 
heart. He was the best friend I had. He went to 
the camp-meeting, was converted, and united with 
the Church. Here I had lost a strong brace in sin. 
The camp-meeting went on, and finally I w^ent, 
with no good purpose. I learned, to my great indig- 



100 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

nation, that quite a number of my old comrades in 
vice had been what they called ' converted,' and 
others were at the altar as seekers. I drew near 
the scene of action to try to put an end to such 
foolishness, and rescue some of my deserted asso- 
ciates. Although I could curse and swear on an 
equality with the worst of men on ordinary occa- 
sions, I did not feel at that time that I had a suf- 
ficient magazine of blasphemy on hand to do jus- 
tice to the subject. I was truly outraged. Like 
Groliath of Gath, I had gone there full of heaven- 
defying wickedness in my poor heart, to defy the 
hosts of God's conquering Israel, but I soon suffered 
a similar defeat. Although I knew little of preach- 
ers, and cared less, yet I had formed a favorable 
opinion of Mr. John, and felt great respect for him, 
as he was ever polite and kind to me. I had fre- 
quently denied myself of a Sunday spree to hear 
him preach, but on this occasion he seemed to 
preach w^th greater power than ever before; and 
when I reached the arbor, he was in the stand, 
preaching w^ith great pathos. I stood at the out- 
skirts of a large assembly, and he seemed to fix his 
keen, black, penetrating eyes an me, and his shrill 
voice fell like thunder-peals of warning on my ears, 
such as I had never heard before. Peal after peal, 
as the roaring surf telling of distant storms, startled 
my guilty soul, while bitter remembrances and tor- 
menting fears came over me. I had been in many 
a close place of alarming dangers, meeting in dead- 
ly contest overpowering numbers of daring sav- 
ages, their arrows flying, their uplifted lances gleam- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 101 

ing ill the sunlight a moment, then piercing the 
heart of a comrade by my side; I had seen them 
fall, bleeding, dying, and dead; I had heard their 
groans and piteous wails in the dying strife, while 
my heart was nerved with bitter hate and cruel 
reveno^e ; but now I was standins^ in the thickest 
range of Jehovah's divinely-hurled arrows. My 
heart was pierced by the cold iron of sacred truth. 
.About me Israel's valiant hosts, all clad in the 
panoply of heaven, stood in bright array. As one 
deserted of his friends, I seemed alone, disarmed 
and helpless, like unto the solitary oak in the old 
field, barkless and limbless, peeled by the scathing 
lightning constantly streaming from the wrathful 
heavens, while the earnest preacher poured on my 
naked heart the divinely-iired truth. He showed 
that the wise man should look well to the founda- 
tion on which he builded. I felt my foundation 
giving way. lie pointed out the wise ship-master, 
wdio would not venture upon storm-troubled seas, 
Avhere mad waves rolled high in the path of tem- 
pest-winds, without first inspecting ev^ery part of his 
vessel — see if the hull were sound, if the machin- 
ery were in order, if the sails were in place, and all 
the crew were at their posts. I felt that the bottom 
of my craft was rotten, and no soundness in any 
part; that there was no safety in such a voyage. 
Eternity's boundless ocean was near, and on its dan- 
gerous bosom I must venture, but my vessel would 
go under. Dives in his tormenting flames could not 
have suffered much greater agonies of soul than 
rent my troubled mind. The guilt of a miserable 



102 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

life lay all its poiideroiis weight upon my writhing 
conscience. There I stood, as if chained to the 
earth, a mass of spiritual ignorance and guilt. But 
soon I felt the iron fetters of my heart hegin to 
loosen their clasp upon me. My old hardness of 
heart began to relent, and unbidden tears flowed 
down® as if a mountain of snow had dissolved with- 
in me. There I stood still, a weeping prisoner of 
a thousand tears. The sermon ended, and mourn- 
ers were invited to the altar; and while a lively 
song was being sung, the altar was thronged with 
pleading penitents; and now and then one would 
arise and praise God for his redeeming grace, which 
sounded to my soul as a death -knell on a starless 
night. Some of my old associates in crime were 
singing, others were shouting, and some talking to 
mourners. Truly did I feel forsaken in a dreary 
world. My soul seemed pierced with the grief of 
ages in a single moment. I tried to throw oft' my 
convictions. My old pride came upon me, and 
made a brave struggle to disentangle my feelings. 
I strove to conceal my convictions, but my eftbrts 
w^ere fruitless. I then determined to leave the 
meeting, but I could not get away. My wounds 
were too deep to heal. E"ext morning an experi- 
ence-meeting was held, and all the young converts 
were requested to speak. As one after another 
arose and told how the love of God had been shed 
abroad in their hearts, their experience made a 
powerful impression on me. A simple statement 
of babes in Christ greatly impresses the mind. 
Some of my most intimate friends ventured to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 103 

speak to me about my soul's salvation. I treated 
their advice with respect. I lingered about the 
meeting three days, and my condition increased in 
intense sorrow. In the afternoon Mr. John made 
another fearful attack on the sinful, which com- 
pelled me to a full surrender, and by the aid of two 
good men I was enabled to reach the altar, all melt- 
ed into penitent tears. I truly ^ cried' unto the 
Lord for mercy till the close of the hour's service, 
when an invitation was given to join the Church. 
I was asked to unite with the Church, which I 
refused to do, on the grounds of. my ignorance 
of Church matters, and of my former abandoned 
course of wickedness, lest I might relapse into sin 
and disgrace myself and the Church. But I was 
told that it was a means of grace, and in the act of 
joining the Church I might be enabled to make a 
full surrender of myself to Christ, and receive the 
blessing of pardoning grace. I revolved the sub- 
ject in my mind, and resolved to join the Church, 
and reform my life, and do all and whatever God 
might require of me; and I arose and gave the 
preacher my trembling hand, and just then heaven 
seemed to open and pour its treasures of bliss into 
my willing heart. ' My joys were immortal.' An 
angel's tongue might tell love's wondrous story, 
but mine could not. As a love-inspired poet said: 

Tongue cannot express the sweet comfort and peace, 

Of a soul in its earliest love. 
That comfort was mine when the favor divine 

I first felt in the blood of the Lamb. 
He hath loved me, I cried, he hath suffered and died 

To redeem a poor rebel like me. 



104 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

'' It seemed to me that every faculty of my soul 
had a voice, and each shouted, 'Glory to God!' 
Heavenly inspirations fell upon me, and enkindled 
divine thoughts and fancies, and sweet hopes and 
thrilling joys, in my new-horn heart. My whole 
being was pervaded with heavenly power, so that I 
had no control of myself. O, I shouted and praised 
God, in the full volume of a strong and love-im- 
bued voice! Blessed old arbor! 'Thou dear, hon- 
ored spot; the fame of thy wonder shall ne'er be 
forgot.' O while I write, my heart burns under the 
warm enkindlings of ' sweet memories of thee.' The 
joys of by-gone years rise up and enter the citadel of 
the soul, and I must sing the befitting old song: 

Amazing grace ! (how sweet the sound !) 

That saved a wretch like me ! 
I once was lost, but now I 'm found, 

Was blind, but now I see. 

" That good old song has lifted up my soul many 
a time when depressed by trials, and sufierings, and 
dangers, along this rugged world. I have made 
these wild mountain solitudes ring with its pathetic 
strains, when none but God and angels could hear 
its mellow cadences. So also have we in the mount- 
ain's lone, deep shades at night, far away from the 
home of man, sung the faith-inspiring hymn : 

Though like a wanderer, 

The sun gone down, 
Darkness be over me, 

My rest a stone ; 
Yet in my dreams I 'd be 
Nearer, my God, to thee, 

Nearer to thee ! 



V. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 105 

And then: 

I love in solitude to shed 

The penitential tear; 
And all his promises to plead, 

When none but God can hear. 

" Yes, in the lonely hours of night, with my head 
pillowed on a mountain stone, looking deep into the 
homes of the distant stars, I have sung those sweet 
notes of love when gentle angels seemed to smile 
upon me from every twinkling, glowing star in the 
great firmament. 

"When I joined the Church I had all to learn. 
I could not write, and had never read but a few 
chapters in the Bible; but I felt that God loved all 
men as he loved me; as I was the chief of sin- 
ners, I could testify that much for Jesus. I put 
all on his altar, and was willing to do any thing, 
or go anywhere. I was appointed class-leader after 
having been in one class-meeting. 

" When entering the itinerant ministry, I felt im- 
pressed with a sense of duty to offer myself for the 
frontier mission-field of West Texas, as my experi- 
ence in border life and Indian warfare clearly point- 
ed me out for that sphere; and for thirteen toilsome 
years I have borye witness for Jesus in all the towns 
and rural settlements from the Colorado to the Rio 
Grande rivers." 

We have copied this long narration of Mr. Pot- 
ter's religious experience from his own manuscript, 
with some verbal alterations to suit this volume, 
because of its great value to the Church, and also 
to men earnestly seeking reformation from a career 



100 Andkew Jackson Potter. 

of sin. And now we wish to offer some natural 
deductions therefrom. By it we are reminded of 
the incalculahle value of the old camp -meeting 
battle-ground to the cause of Christ. Many of the 
ablest veterans in the Church were converted at 
the old camp-meeting altars. They used to call out 
a large class of men that never enter city steepled 
churches, or those in rural places — men who never 
hear the gospel anywhere else. When, like Israel 
in olden days, the Church leaves Egypt and camps 
in the wilderness, God spreads out his cloud of 
glory about it, and sinners coming there realize 
that it is holy ground, and saints are made strong 
like David in the might of God. Better for the 
Church, better for sinners in reach of gospel mer- 
cy, that in some form the old camp-altar be rebuilt. 
We are also taught the encouraging lesson to the 
earnest, faithful preacher, never to despair, as he 
cannot tell the result of his efforts to win sinners 
to the Divine Master, who has called him to the 
pulpit. He cannot tell when that Spirit, which is to 
be with the devoted preacher "to the end of the 
world," shall bear his message to listening sinners 
with power and convincing light. Truly our zeal- 
ous reverend friends, Thomas and John, both of 
whom still live as faithful ministers of Christ, who 
held that month -long camp-meeting, when more 
than eighty sinners were enlisted in the cause of 
Christ — some, too, of the most fearful characters — 
have great cause of grateful joy at the great har- 
vest of good being now gathered from their sowing 
of the good seed on that wonderful occasion. A 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 107 

Potter and a Smith wick are sheaves from that 
sowing. 

Sriiithwiek we never knew, but know his char- 
acter, his fame, as Potter's companion in sin ; but 
when he was converted he soon began to preach, 
and was as zealous for his new Master as for his old 
one. "He led in the van of the host; " soon, how- 
ever, "he fell as a soldier, but died at his post." 
We have often stood over his tomb among stran- 
gers, at Sandies Chapel, on Rancho Circuit of the 
West Texas Conference. We have stood by his 
silent grave, and thought of his zealous, brief min- 
isterial career, and felt the warm emotions of that 
loving hope whispering so softly. We shall meet 
thee "over there, over tliere." But what of 
more than eighty others who joined the living 
hosts on that day? Preacher, thank God and take 
courage for the coming battle-days. We may like- 
wise say to the reader of these religious stories, if 
he still is a stranger to their blessed realities, if he 
is a sinner, and even a great one, even a chief 
among those unsaved, The remarkable experience 
of Mr. Potter lays down broad and firm grounds 
for hope. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall 
be forgiven men who properly seek it, save that 
one lone sin against the Holy Ghost. Gamaliel's 
literary son said that God showed mercy to him, 
the CHIEF of sinners, as a pattern of mercy to all 
great sinners, in all after-ages. Read Potter's life, 
and do as he did at that consecrated camp-ground; 
turn unto the Lord w^ith full purpose of heart, con- 
secrate all to him, and he will receive vou. 



108 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Still another fact we are taught by his conver- 
sion and speedy call to the ministry: that God 
chooses "his ministers from all spheres and stations 
in life. He chooses men suited to the fields they 
are to cultivate. The learned and the illiterate, the 
rich and the poor, the most degraded and the most 
highly elevated, are all to be preached to, and God 
selects the preacher. In ages gone by not a major- 
ity of the learned or great have been called. The 
majority of mankind are still of low and moderate 
grades, and God calls many from their ranks to fill 
the pulpit. He often chooses weak things to sub- 
due the strong, and the illiterate to conquer the 
wise, that the vital, efficient cause of success may 
appear to be of God and not of men. But men 
thus chosen of God do not remain in a state of 
ignorance. As the roughest ashler taken from the 
native quarry is polished smoothly by the hand of 
the artist, so the Divine Artist instructs, refines, and 
elevates his ministers, to be equal to the duties 
in their allotted spheres. There is a divine qualifi- 
cation for each preacher, without which his minis- 
try is a mere tinkling cymbal. That spiritual bap- 
tism, " that tongue of fire," that inward call, that 
holy anointing, that being " endued with power 
from on high," is of God, and is the key to success; 
it is the indispensable. When by it talent and learn- 
ing are hallowed, it truly is the endowment of power 
from above; it moves the dry bones, and stirs up the 
dead sinner to consciousness, and imparts spiritual 
life to the Church. Anciently it gave the apostles 
power to speak languages they had never learned, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 109 

and with Mr. Potter it seemed almost refulfilled. 
He could not write, and could barely read a little. 
Soon he began to preach to sinful men the simple 
story of the love of Jesus, who had so signally 
saved him from the deepest pits of sin. He tells 
us that his mind was divinely illumined; that a 
holy unction, a divine power, was upon him; that 
it gave him courage and zeal. It no doubt opened 
the faculties of his understanding, stimulated his 
thirst for learning, and excited zealous effort to 
acquire that knowledge so essential to qualify him 
for his future triumphs. Onward he steadily moved, 
till honored by his brethren with the responsible 
place of presiding elder in the Church of his choice. 
Lastly, we are made to think of the likeness and the 
contrast between this modern border preacher of 
West Texas and the great Apostle of the Gentiles. 
Saul of Tarsus was a learned, proud Pharisee — a 
Jewish moralist; Mr. Potter was an unlearned, 
wicked sinner, denizened with the slum and gar- 
bage of the world. Saul was a bigoted zealot, per- 
secuting the Church of God — in Scripture phrase, 
*' he breathed out threatenings and slaughter, and 
made havoc" of its members; Mr. Potter had no 
religious creed, but drank, gambled, blasphemed, 
and fought any one who might enrage his ire, 
whether good or bad. Saul was arrested with great 
spiritual power; so also was Mr. Potter. Saul was 
converted in a little room on the street which is 
called Straight, in the historic city of Damascus. 
Mr. Potter was converted at a camp-meeting. Saul 
joined the Church in that little room, and was bap- 



110 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tizecl by a lay Jewish convert, named Ananias ; 
Mr. Potter was baptized by a Methodist preacher 
at a camp-meeting. Saul prayed and fasted three 
days and nights, in great trouble, before he was 
converted. Mr. Potter was several days in untold 
anguish of mind. Paul began to preach Jesus soon 
after his call; so did Mr. Potter. Paul planted 
Christianity in the domains of the pagan world ; 
Mr. Potter planted it on the empired frontier of 
West Texas. Dear reader, are you a young minis- 
ter, from a humble sphere? Care not for that; 
think of the heights others have attained from the 
depths below you. Consecrate your soul and bod}^ 
to Him who has called you to such distinguished 
honors. "Ask the Saviour to help you — he will carry 
you through; he will carry you through!" In- 
scribe on your banner Mr. Potter's motto: " I can, 
and, by the grace of Christ Jesus, I will be superior 
to my circumstances." Let not circumstances sub- 
due your efforts, or in the least discourage your zeal 
for Christ. Learn how to abound, and how to be 
in want; how to be abased, and how to be exalted. 
'Bo vale is so low that the heights above it cannot 
be reached b}^ omnipotent faith — it is "the victory 
that overcometh the w^orld." Aim high, and strive 
to reach the mark of your high calling of God, as 
a minister of his dear Son Jesus Christ. 

Once when Mr. Potter was asked a reason for his 
great zeal for Christ, he answered: "Those who 
have much forgiven love much ; as the poor cured 
maniac of Gadara, who had lived among the tombs, 
but being in his right mind by the side of Jesus, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. Ill 

did not leave him, but wanted ever to be with him; 
in love for what Jesus had done for him in rescu- 
ing him from the dominion of Satan, and fearing if 
he got away from his Lord's presence his old enemy 
might overcome him again. I^ear to Jesus, the 
enemy must not harm you ; at a distance, as Peter, 
he shall attack you. Near the cross, divine light 
and poioer center and radiate; beneath it, take your 
stand against all opposing forces, and ever sing in 
your heart, ' Closer and closer let me cleave to my 
Eedeemer's side;' and here yours shall be the vic- 
tor's song, but there it shall be the victor's crown.'' 



112 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

"In the year 1857, the Rev. I. G. John was appoint- 
ed to the Bastrop Circuit, and organized a small soci- 
ety on Pin - oak Creek, in a neighborhood about 
ten miles east of the Colorado River. He appointed 
me class -leader when my six months' probation 
had not expired, and I had never attended but one 
class-meeting. There had never been any preach- 
ing in that community until Brother John took it 
into the circuit that year. It was a heavy cross, but 
I took it up, and began by holding a prayer-meet- 
ing at a private house one night in each week. That 
was not only a new thing there because it was the 
first held in the community, but the newly convert- 
ed Potter was going to hold it, and some of the 
people said, 'May be he is going to hold out, after 
all.' I never shall forget ray feeling when I held 
that first prayer-meeting. I thought the people 
never would stop coming — men, women, and chil- 
dren — house full and yard full. I thought that a 
great many had come through mere curiosity. Only 
one man besides myself would lead in audible prayer. 
I began the service by reading a chapter and sing- 
ing a hymn, and then tried to pray. After prayer 
I talked till I ran out of something to say; then I 
called on the other brother to pray, and then we 
sung again, and by the time we had prayed two or 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 113 

three times by turns things got into such a fix that 
I was at a loss to know what to do, and I began to 
think that the whole thing was a failure, and dis- 
missed with a downcast heart. But I appointed 
class-meeting for the following Sunday, and on that 
day the gathering was large. I kept up prayer- 
meetings on Saturday nights, and class-meetings on 
Sundays. We had a glorious revival in that com- 
munity that year, and many of the converts dated 
their conviction to that first prayer-meeting, which 
I thought to be such a great failure. Our members 
increased until that place became one of the best 
appointments on the circuit. Brother John did a 
noble work that year. He was succeeded by the 
Rev. J. W. B. Allen, who traveled the Bastrop Cir- 
cuit in 1858 and 1859. I served as class-leader 
under him part of 1859. He often put me up to 
preach or exhort. He was a good and true man. 
He once appointed a protracted-meeting at Alum 
Creek, but when the time came he was sick, and 
could not attend; but we all met at the arbor on 
the appointed day, and consulted together, and con- 
cluded to carry on the meeting ourselves the best 
we could. Old Brother Rector, a class-leader, and 
old Moses Gage, a Primitive Baptist, who often spoke 
in public, and Lieu Holbert, a Missionary Baptist, a 
zealous man and able in prayer, and myself, a class- 
leader — these constituted all our available working- 
forces. It was agreed that I should take charge of 
the meeting, and fill the place of a preacher by ex- 
horting, they agreeing to follow me in turns, and 
then we would have several prayers. So our meeting 



114 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

went on increasing in interest until Sunday night, 
when we had a general move — fifteen mourners at 
the altar. But some of the learned ' scribes ' of the 
community concluded that it would never do for 
the Lord to carry on a meeting and bless people 
without a preacher, and they sent to Bastrop after 
Professor Connor to come and preach on Sunday. I 
said to Brother Rector, ' I am glad we are going 
to have a preacher;' but he said that he was sorry, 
adding that we had carried on the meeting, and the 
Lord had blessed us, and that he was afraid that a 
change would ruin the meeting; and so it really 
turned out. The preacher came and preached two 
fine sermons, and the meeting closed without a sin- 
gle penitent at the altar. I often attended revival- 
meetings, and was used to exhorting, and inviting 
the seekers to the altar. I frequently rejoiced with a 
full soul all aglow with love and peace. O the peace- 
ful hours I then enjoyed! how sweet their memory 
still ! " 

How dear to us are the tender memories of gentle 
childhood, when we first begin to exercise our phys- 
ical powers without the aid of others! So also are 
our fond recollections of our infancy in grace, when 
we begin to use our little stock of grace and strength 
in a public manner; when we begin to exercise our 
gifts in the sacred pulpit as an advocate of the re- 
ligion of Jesus! As the unpracticed little man-boy 
sometimes topples and falls, so the juvenile preacher 
often staggers and tumbles into the valley of humil- 
iation in his early years. Precious years! full of 
the deepest earnestness and a simple, overpowering 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 115 

zeal. ]^o wonder the Holy Spirit does not refuse 
to be associated with such a child-like sincerity and 
honest concern for the souls of men. Childhood in 
grace is as innocent as the infant constituting a part 
of the kingdom of heaven. The apostolic Chris- 
tians were simple, zealous people, and the preaching 
in that day, for the most part, was a plain, unpolished 
statement of gospel facts, imbued with the love and 
tears of a humble heart. God was in all; Jesus 
and the resurrection was the theme; art, science, and 
literature, were left to the world; but thoughts of 
Jesus and salvation burned in their minds and shone 
in their lives as the radiance of beauty; and more 
than eighteen hundred years thereafter we see the 
same earnest spirit in the hearts of a few good men, 
away in Texas, at a revival-meeting, without the aid 
of ministerial talent, carrying on the Master's work 
as Philip did at Samaria in the long-ago. Great, 
learned sermons are not the strongest and most effi- 
cient batteries of grace. The mind enlightened, and 
the heart unmoved, does not move sinners to peni- 
tence; it is that truth that passes through the mind 
into the inner heart that enlists the will in the in- 
terest of Jesus. More men are impressed with a sense 
of the truth of vital religion by its fruits as seen in 
the lives of their fellow-men than by the arts of logic 
or the charms of oratory. A new heart is the fount- 
ain of all genuine religion, and when we see the 
heart of our fellow moved into tears by its soul-stir- 
ring fires, the electric current passes into the secret 
resources of the soul, and we own its power to save. 
"We think it not strange that God should own and 



116 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

make strong Mr. Potter and his simple-hearted band 
of humble men at that religious revival, for he "ex- 
alts the humble, but resists the proud." The two able 
sermons of the practiced preacher seemed not to have 
the companionship of the all-powerful Spirit — hence 
it moved no one, as zephyrs moving amxong the high- 
est tips of the forest-trees never touch nor shake 
their roots. The young, uninformed minister sets 
out with fear and trembling with a single eye to tell 
of his dear Saviour's love. He is humble; he is 
in earnest; he puts his humility, his burning zeal, 
into all his poor efforts to win men to Christ; and 
God makes his feebleness strong, and he "waxes 
valiant in fight." As he advances in the labyrinth 
of knowledge, he grows more self-reliant, and begins 
to feel that he has a pulpit character to maintain by 
preaching great sermons; and the holy influences 
forsake him, and failure paints itself on the front 
of his pulpit. 

"In the year 1859, I sold out in^Bastrop county 
and purchased a place in Caldwell county, nine 
miles east of Lockhart, to which I moved the latter 
part of that year. Here I was licensed to preach, 
and began my ministry with great success. There 
was a fearful drought that year — the severest known 
in the history of Texas — and it was extremely dif- 
ficult to get breadstuff, and horse-feed could not be 
had. One of my neighbors had some corn to spare, 
but he would not sell it for money. He said he was 
compelled to have some rails split, and" it was doubt- 
ful about getting them made for money, but he knew 
he could get it done for corn, for people were obliged 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 117 

to have bread. That was my only chance; so I 
threw aside my coat, and took my ax, maul, and 
wedge, and went to work, and truly by the 'sweat 
of my face,' and the whole man, I got the pabulum 
of life for my family. Years have rolled away, and 
the old stumps are there, standing with their heads 
above ground, monuments of what the woodman's 
ax has done. Whenever I pass along that way, they 
recall to mind the many hard-aimed blows I dealt 
on their fallen forest-giants to get bread for self and 
dear ones. My poor horse failed for want of food, 
for the drought burned up the weeds and grass of 
w^oodland and prairie. After cutting and mauling 
through the week, I walked from seven to tw^elve 
miles on Sunday to fill my appointments; and God 
greatly blessed me, and I would rejoice in my work. 
I lived near neighbor to the Rev. J. G. Mabry, of 
the Methodist Protestant Church. lie was a holy, 
good man. He has gone to his reward, and no doubt 
is in 'the better-land,' with many who have gone 
' over there ' through his ministerial labors. He and 
I worked together in 1861, and the Lord greatly 
blessed our work with gracious revivals. That 
year was not crowned with a rich harvest, but I 
made corn enough for bread and some horse-feed, 
and recuperated my dilapidated horse, so that I 
could once more ride to my appointments." 

The great drought of 1859 will never be forgotten 
by the settlers in Texas, as they merely got through 
it by the " skin of their teeth." Mr. Potter's resort- 
ing to the ax, maul, and w^edge, is another evidence 
of the energy of the man in proportion to the de- 



118 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

manci of circumstances. His motto is, "I will be 
superior to circumstances." Cut, maul, walk, and 
preach — there was zeal. Such events try the mate- 
rials of which man is made, as terrible sea-storms 
test the strength of the timbers of which ships are 
built. 

The zeal of a faithful minister of Jesus is stronger 
than the love of life or the fear of death. "What 
mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart? for I 
am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Je- 
rusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus," said the 
devoted, the zealous Paul. Mr. Potter's earliest 
ministry was greatly blessed with immediate sealing 
results. Many were brought from darkness to light 
by the Spirit's influences accompanying the word 
uttered in the simple earnestness of a mind imbued 
with the love of Jesus, yearning for the salvation of 
souls. He had little knowledge of books, but his 
lesson was a short, concise one; it was this: " This is 
a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of 
whom I am chief." Of that one thing he was con- 
fident, and he told it with heart-felt zeal, and God 
owned and blessed his word. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 119 



CHAPTER XV. 

"During the winter of 1861, I felt powerfully im- 
pressed to go back to Missouri, my native State, to 
the old home where I was born, and bear witness 
for Jesus to my relatives and near kindred, who 
w^ere still living and lingering in the same old scenes 
of my earlier years. My means being quite limited, 
Mr. Miller, of Lockhart, was going to take a herd 
of cattle through to Kansas, and prevailed on me to 
go through with the herd. It was a slow and irk- 
some trip to me. My patience gave out, and I re- 
gretted a thousand times having started; but a hard 
bargain needs the more nerve to carry out its stipu- 
lations. We made the trip in forty -seven days, but 
I was then about one hundred miles from my old 
home, from which I had been absent ten long, event- 
ful years. Mr. Miller fitted me out with a suit of 
clothing, and I took a farewell parting with 'the 
cow-boys,' whose hardships I had shared along the 
weary ' trail,' and set out for my long-desired destina- 
tion. As I approached nearer and nearer, my anxie- 
ties doubled upon me, and my feelings were irrepressi- 
ble ; and when I reached the scenes of my early boy- 
hood, I was a captive to tears, and a submissive slave 
to the alternate emotions of regret and joy. My father 
had located on the border, where there were no 
neighbors near to us; but now there were houses 



120 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and farms, and where I used to play on the banks 
of old Grand River there was a grist-mill and a little 
town. Here I met a few old acquaintances, but I 
was still four miles from the home of my dear sister, 
wife of Mr. Jesse Jennings. I hurried on, and gave 
them a great surprise. O the great rejoicing! News 
of my arrival soon spread all over the community, 
and the people flocked in till there was truly a crowd; 
and none of us slept that night of kindred joys. An 
appointment was made for me to preach on the com- 
ing Sabbath, and when the day arrived there Avas a 
general rush to the church to get seats. This say- 
ing w^as in the mouths of all: 'Andy Potter has 
come back, and is a preacher, and he is going to 
preach here to-day.' How strange events in life ex- 
cite us ! The gathering was large indeed. The coun- 
try was no longer frontier. Some old people walked 
several miles to hear the new-born Texas preacher. 
On that day it was as the return of the prodigal ; there 
w^as crying, shouting, and praising God. '0 the 
lost boy, the wild, reckless, wandering Andy, who 
"used to ride races, has come back, and now he is a 
preacher!' Could it be possible? Indeed, it w^as 
true. Praise God, and let the angels say Amen! 
How mysterious and wonderful are the ways of God ! 
"What incredible changes come up in the lives of 
men! 

"A revival began that day which lasted some three 
months. All denominations, far and near, invited 
me to preach in their churches, and I also preached 
in private houses and under bush arbors. On a 
week-day in a private house we had fourteen con- 



Andrew Jackson roTTKR. 121 

versions, one after another, in the same lionr. My 
brother-in-law, who had been a seeker twenty-five 
years, was one of the happy converts. I preached 
nearly every day, and sometimes two or three times 
the same day and night." 

Dear reader, think of the gashing tides of joy and 
nameless emotions that bestir the heart when a long- 
lost wanderer returns to loved ones at childhood's 
home. A kind of central affinity attracts the heart 
to the scenes of our early associations, as the needle is 
drawn to the pole of the earth. Man, in all his jour- 
neyings, on land or sea, feels a heart-tenderness when 
thoughts of home glide through his brain. These 
sweet home-thoughts make him a child again, and 
all the tearful sympathies of boyhood awake in his 
heart; and when, after strange wanderings, in har- 
dened manhood he returns to those remembered 
paths of childhood, and time and art have wrought 
their changes there, and death has taken loved ones 
away, language hath not a name for the mingled 
emotions which rend the heart and ripple the pool 
of feeling. Almost all animals feel some endear- 
ment to the scenes of their nativity — beasts of the 
field and forest, birds of the grove, and even the 
tiny minnow in the little pool — but childhood is 
allied to home with almost indissoluble heart-ties, 
stronger than the tendrils binding the vine to the, 
massive oak. Kindred ligaments entwine with those 
of home associations to render domestic pleasures 
like those in the heaven above. Surely there must 
be somewhere in the illimitable universe a place 
where man may find a permanent home, where all 



122 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the family may meet, and where long-severed ties 
may be mended by a reunion of hearts, to be part- 
ed no more! Hail, all hail, happy place! 

Mr. Potter's visit to Missouri was rich in a revi- 
val-harvest to the Church to many denominations. 
A minister bearing evidence of God's efficient grace 
crowning his labors instantly gains the confidence 
of man. The man whom God honors men will 
accredit. If he be learned or illiterate, no matter; 
if God owns and makes eftectual his labors, all is 
right; let not man reject him. But when men see 
the presence of divine power with the most un- 
learned minister, it is enough to inspire faith ; hence 
Jesus said, ''Lo, I am with you alway, even to the 
end of the world." " Tarry ye at Jerusalem till 
endued with power from on high." On that spirit- 
ual presence, that power from above, depends pul- 
pit triumph in the world. What but that could 
have made Mr. Potter a power in the sacred desk, 
even in the first years of his ministry? God's Spirit 
gives liberty. 

But in the man's nature there seems to be the 
unification of opposites, and in his life a strange 
coincidence of paradoxes. With all his great revi- 
vals in Missouri, he had an unpleasant encounter 
with a man connected with his family by marriage; 
but it was of a nature that did not attach blame to 
Mr. Potter, as the sequel will show. He had a 
niece who had married a young man who was sick 
at his father's house; and the old gentleman seems 
to have been a rough, cruel sort of a man, and 
being displeased with his daughter-in-law, he abused 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 123 

and chastised her while her husband was bed-rid- 
den. Having a knowledge of Mr. Potter's former 
pugilistic character, he said that he would now 
have her Texas uncle to kill, as he knew that he 
would " take it up " and defend her. He accord- 
ingly borrowed a gun, and belted a dangerous knife 
to his side, and passed about, thus armed, for that 
ostensible object. Mr. Potter chanced to meet him, 
when the cruel man said to him, '' Do n't you come 
here," pointing the gun toward him; but Mr. Pot- 
ter walked on, the man saying the while, " Do n't 
you come here," till Mr. Potter approached, seized 
the gun, w^renched it from him, and then said, 
" Hand over that knife; " but he refused, when Mr. 
Potter jobbed him a little with the muzzle of the 
gun, and he handed it over. "Now," said Mr. 
Potter, " you must ask pardon of that young lady 
you have treated so cruelly." That was a hard 
thing for the old sinner to do, and he hesitated, 
saying, "You have the advantage of me; you have 
my gun and knife." Mr. Potter replied, "You had 
them, and I took them from you — here, now, take 
them, and I will take them from you again;" but 
he refused to take them. " Well, now, out with 
that petition for pardon;" and he said the hard 
thing to be uttered, and Mr. Potter handed him his 
arms, telling him to go home and behave himself. 

After spending about three months with friends 
and kindred, he bade adieu to his native State, and 
returned to his Texas home in Caldwell county, and 
spent the remainder of that year in local life, preach- 
in o; with the Rev. Mr. Mabry, of the Methodist 



124 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Protestant Church, with great results of good to 
the Church and country, as will be seen on another 
page. 

Often the humanly weak, divinely strong, con- 
founds the worldly strong. " When I am weak, 
then am I strong," said a great missionary evangel- 
ist ; *' most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my 
infirmities." He preached not Christ with wisdom 
of words, lest the cross should be made of none 
efi'ect by men's faith rooting in the wisdom of man, 
not in the power of God. " I will give you a month 
and wisdom that all your enemies shall not gain- 
say." " God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but 
of love, and of power, and of a sound mind." God 
giveth it. But Mr. Potter has advanced in the knowl- 
edge of men and books till he leads in " the van of 
the host." Do not grow strong in w^orldly wisdom 
and become ignorant of divine things. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 125 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Mr. Potter at this time was a local preacher, and 
not heing in the regular itinerant ministerial ranks, 
was subject to the Confederate conscript law. Con- 
scription not being agreeable to his patriotic taste, 
he volunteered as a private soldier in Captain Stoke 
Homes's company, Woods's regiment. Thirty-second 
Texas Cavalry. Captain Homes's company was then 
encamped on the Salado, near San Antonio. 

" The company was organized at Prairie Lee, in 
February, 1862. My younger brother, and nephew, 
and brother-in-law, and a large number of my most 
intimate friends, had already joined the company. 
About that time Dr. P. C. Woods, of San Marcos, 
began to make up a regiment, to which our com- 
pany was attached, and we were ordered to Camp 
Verde, in Kerr county, to take charge of the pris- 
oners taken at San Antonio, at the surrender of 
General Twiggs. Soon after reaching Camp Verde, 
the measles broke out among :he soldiers, and raged 
fearfully; there were hardly enough well ones to 
nurse the sick. Two of our men died, and we 
buried them near the post, close to the beautiful 
Verde, all walled in by the near mountains. All 
traces of their hidden graves may now be obliter- 
ated, but God has noted the spot, and will know 
where to find thein at the last day. Dr. Ship and 



126 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

myself would feel our way through darkness in the 
dismal nights, from place to place, to give those 
poor sick ones their remedies. I often preached to 
'the ho3^s' on the gallery of Mr. BonneFs dwelling. 
I also preached to the prisoners, who ever gave 
good attention. I frequently got permission from 
the clever captain to go out into the country and 
preach, and the young men would avail themselves 
of the opportunity of getting permission to go with 
me to my appointments. One time I went to Ban- 
dera, and several of them proposed to go with me, 
saying if I would select my hymns and loan them 
my hymn-book, they would practice during the 
week. I loaned it to them, telling them to be ready 
at eight o'clock Sunday morning. They appeared 
at the appointed time, all neatly dressed, and we 
started for Bandera, about fifteen miles. They ran 
several horse-races on the road before reaching the 
place. Before time for preaching, I told them they 
might walk about town until the hour, but be sure 
and be there in good time. At eleven o'clock I 
walked into the preaching-place, and found a large 
congregation, and my soldiers sitting together on 
one bench. I gave out my hymn and started the 
tune, the soldiers joining in to the admiration of 
all. I introduced them to the people of Bandera, 
who gave them an invitation to dinner. "We re- 
turned to Camp Verde that afternoon, and the men 
gave a full detail of our trip. I also preached sev- 
eral times in Kerrville, to large and deeply-im- 
pressed congregations. After remaining about 
three months at Camp Verde, we were ordered to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 127 

San Antonio with the prisoners, and camped for 
some time on the Salado, at the Austin crossing. 
While so many of our men were sick, the captain 
prevailed on me to act as a non-commissioned ofh- 
cer. There was a certain man in the company by 
the name of F. ; he weighed about one hundred 
and eighty pounds, and was well formed. He was 
very quarrelsome and overbearing, and a make-be- 
lieve bully. Most of the men really dreaded him. 
He was a bitter enemy to religion, and availed him- 
self of every opportunity for hurling his sarcasms 
at me, taking a kind of infernal pleasure in wound- 
itig my feelings. I tried to shun him all I could. 
When Ave were at San Antonio we camped one 
night on the San Padre, and it was my night for 
duty. Mr. F. was on guard, and I had to relieve 
him when his two hours were up, and knowing that 
he would likely complain if he was not relieved at 
the minute, I was careful to relieve him just at the 
time; but when passing the next morning I heard 
him say to a group of men, with bitter oaths, that 
the parson put him on guard and kept him three 
hours. That was more than I could bear, and I 
asked, ' Who put you on guard and retained you 
three hours?' He answered, ' You did.' I said: 
' Sir, you are a liar; and if you take that you are a 
coward. You have been trying to bring this thing 
on for some time, and now if there is any fight in 
you let us have it.' He walked up to me, and I put 
my hand on his breast and pushed him back, and 
said: ' You won't fight; now I will talk to you a 
little. You have made a mistake; you have made 



128 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the impression in this company that you arc a first- 
class bully, a real man-eater, but you have waked 
up the wrong man. I have now demonstrated the 
fact, right here before all these men, that you are a 
coward, and that there is no fight in you. There 
is not a boy in this company but may insult you 
when he sees fit to do so, from this time on.' So 
the foam all passed away, and Mr. F. never was an 
object of terror any more in that company, but was 
ever a fast friend of mine." 

There are no assumed traits of character with 
Mr. Potter. He is what he is. He tells men plainly 
wdiat he desires them to know, without putting on 
any varnish, or seeking to mitigate his phrases. If 
a man prevaricates, he hesitates not to tell him of 
it. A more conservative mode might result as well 
in some cases. 

" While we were camped on the Salado some of 
our men w^ere attacked with typhoid fever, and 
taken to the hospital at San Antonio. They sent 
word to Captain Homes that they were not receiv- 
ing good attention, and requested that I should be 
ordered into the hospital to nurse them; and I was 
detailed to attend the sick. I spent many long and 
sleepless nights in watching over my sick and dying 
comrades. The first that died was a young man 
by the name of Marion Ralls. I sent for his par- 
ents, and they reached the place before their darling 
boy passed away. His parents were Baptists. His 
mother would kneel down by his couch, and pour 
out the full tide of her lacerated soul in prayer for 
her dying son. At last the sad hour of his depart- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 129 

ure came, and Marion was no more. It was a hard 
trial to those fond and doting parents. I had then 
sat up three nights, without closing my eyes in 
sleep. The next one to go was a youth named Doc 
Persons. I saw that he was nearing his end, and 
sent for his parents, and they got there in time to 
see their son breathe his last. He had been entirely 
delirious for twenty-four hours, talking incoherently. 
His father was a very wicked man, but his mother 
was a noble Christian lady. One morning, just as 
the sun began to throw his rays through the win- 
dows upon his pale and death -like features, we were 
standing near to see the last struggles of the suf- 
ferer, when he suddenly roused up out of his stu- 
por, and seemed entirely rational, and thanked me 
for my attentions to him, saying also that he hoped 
to meet me in heaven. He then gave an affecting 
farewell talk to his mother and sister, and addressed 
his wicked father, saying, ^ Pa, will you meet me in 
heaven?' He sobbed out, 'I will try.' The dying 
son said, *I am afraid you will not; give me your 
hand ; ' and the cold hand reached out, taking hold 
of his fathers, and the plighted hands sealed the 
solemn engagement to meet in that land where 
friends never part. Dropping into a stupor, his 
unfettered spirit went home to God, leaving his 
soulless body still in death. I had only slept one 
night after the death of young Ralls, and had now 
spent three sleepless nights in nursing this one, and 
w^as so nearly exhausted that the captain sent me 
home to rest; and there I preached the funeral of 
young Ralls, at a Baptist meeting, at the request of 
9 



130 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

his devoted parents, the miuisterial brethren yield- 
ing me their pulpit." 

What strange contrarieties meet in the brief his- 
tory of our remarkable hero! Thus is nature; and 
some men's lives strictly pattern after natural forms. 
Old ocean's liquid w^orld is rent and tossed to the 
skies by tempest-winds to-day, but to-morrov^ its 
vast bosom is as quiet and smooth as the face of a 
great mirror, while golden light glistens on the 
wide domain. Wintry winds howl along the hills 
and vales in the dismal night, but the calm is on 
the forest-world at the opening morn. Men are in 
health to-day, and rejoice with a merry heart, but 
at evening-tide they are sick, and wail in dying ago- 
nies. Lovely flowers regale our eyes with their 
modest hues in the sparkling, dewy morn, but at 
high-noon their beauties have wilted, and they hang 
drooping on their stems. Man is happy to-day, 
to-morrow he is in sorrow. Now he is in a good 
humor, and is as gentle as the face of the windless 
Pacific, but soon all his elements of passion are 
stirred into a tempest-rage. Such are life's changing 
scenes, and such are man's fitful tempers — nature's 
own child. But Mr. Potter seemed never roused 
into a rage by the most exciting scenes. Ever cool 
but resolute — not enraged like a tempest, but deter- 
mined and dauntless in purpose — he moves on in 
an even manner, as a Nemesis to chastise men for 
their errors, and as an angel to comfort the dis- 
tressed. You see him going to flagellate Mr. F. for 
falsehood, and disturbance of others ; then you see 
him in the hospital with the sick, toiling through 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 131 

successive nights and days, without rest or sleep, 
to alleviate the pain of the suft'erers, though no 
blood kindred of his. The cry of suffering and the 
voice of want ever touch his heart, and no sacrifice 
of ease, no hardships too severe to deter him from 
efforts to relieve the distressed. Waiting around 
the couch of the dying to administer to both soul 
and body, then preaching their funerals when dead 
— a man ready for all things relating to time, and 
those bearing on eternity; a man respected by the 
bad and beloved by the good. To know Potter 
and not like him, is not to be man, but akin to 
demons; even those whom he has chastised, finding 
him out, have become his friends. There is a prin- 
ciple in the human mind that leads men involunta- 
rily to do homage to the factors of truth and candor 
in character. 

In Mr. Potter's religious character there is a con- 
servative vein which runs throuc^h all his ministe- 
rial career, rendering him acceptable to all good 
people of all denominations. That liberal Chris- 
tian element in the man, and his tender, devoted 
kindness to their departed son, influence the par- 
ents of young Ralls to have him preach the funeral- 
sermon of their dear lost child. Disease haunts the 
soldier's camp — it is a foe that the brave soldier is 
not prepared to combat; man is often called to 
yield up his life under the most trying circumstan- 
ces, away from home and loved ones, and in youth's 
hopeful morn; but religion illumines the most dis- 
mal gloom, as when young Persons passed away 
under the radiance of its glory. 



132 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

" When Col. Woods's regiment was camped on the 
San Marcos River, at Camp Clark, below the town 
of San Marcos, at which place onr company, which 
had been on detached service for several months, 
was ordered to join it, it had an arbor, and had 
regular preaching. In the regiment were J. 11. 
Cummings (Chaplain), Preston Phillips, AY. P. D. 
Stockton, Columbus Sawyers, and myself, Methodist 
ministers; the Pev. Mr. Powell, Missionary Bap- 
tist, and the Rev. James Baker, Primitive Baptist. 
Mr. Baker said that it was against the rules of his 
Church to worship with other denominations, and 
asked that the fourth Sabbath be left to him alone, 
and it was granted to him. He said that when he 
was through preaching he was done for that time, 
and if any friend had any thing to say he might 
speak, and I frequently closed up the services by 
prayer, etc. When the regiment was organized. 
Col. Woods tendered the chaplaincy to the Rev. 
Preston Phillips, but he generously waived his 
claim in favor of the Rev. J. H. Cummings, who 
was in poor health, being afflicted with that fearful 
disease, consumption. Mr. Cummings was a very 
popular man, and was held in high esteem by all 
the regiment, but he soon became too feeble to stay 
in camp and preach. He then proposed to resign, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 133 

but being a poor man, the other preachers agreed 
among themselves to do the preaching, and let him 
remain at home and draw the pay of the chaplaincy. 
But he declined rapidly, and some time in 1862 he 
closed his useful life and went to his reward. His 
death left the chaplaincy vacant, and of course Col. 
Woods felt that he stood committed to the Rev. 
Mr. Phillips, he having waived his claim to the 
place at first. He was a good man and a good 
preacher, but seemed not gifted in x)reaching to 
soldiers, and as such, was not a favorite with the 
regiment; and the good colonel felt that it would 
be injustice to the regiment to appoint him, and at 
the same time he felt it would seem hard to take 
another out of the ranks for the place; so he de- 
clined to make any appointment. In the mean- 
time the Rev. Mr. Stockton got the appointment 
of chaplain in Col. Bushel's regiment, and Mr. 
Phillips took the ground that the regiment was 
entitled to a chaplain, and declined to preach under 
our former agreement, so the burden of the work 
fell mainly on me; but I kept up regular prayer- 
meetings in the week, and preaclied on Sundays at 
the colonel's request. The kind-hearted men, see- 
ing that it was too hard on me to do all the drudg- 
ery of a soldier, and keep up the religious services 
of the regiment, sent up a large petition to Col. 
Woods to appoint me, but the colonel was not will- 
ing to take another man out of the regiment and 
appoint him over the Rev. Mr. Phillips, and fell 
upon the plan of electing one from citizen-life — in 
fact, he had already made a tender of the position to 



134 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the Kev. B. Harris, not being informed, in the mean- 
time, of my being chosen by the regiment." 

All grades and spheres of human life have their 
peculiar trials and troubles. The great and the lit- 
tle currents of life have their ripples, their bends, 
and their curves. In domestic scenes, in the social 
spheres, in peace and in war, men have their small 
and their large difficulties. Their aims, their hopes, 
their interests, and their plans collide, and just there 
their feelings, their prejudices, and their partialities 
make a breach. Dilemmas present themselves to 
them which reason, not fettered by passion, cannot 
always guide them safely through. In the career 
of the wisest and the best, there is often just cause 
of regret as to the past, because of mistakes in the 
judgment. Errors in conclusions attach to men; 
infallibility is divine. Great generals, who plan the 
programmes of great battles, sometimes adopt those 
which result in defeat. Man is taught to pardon 
the blunders of his fellow. 

Herewith we transcribe the petition sent up by 
a large list of names to Col. Woods, to appoint 
Mr. Potter chaplain of the regiment, on the death 
of the Rev. Mr. Cummings: 

To Col. P. C. Woods, Commanding: — We, the undersigned, hav- 
ing learned that a vacancy exists in the chaplaincy, caused by the 
death of the Rev. J. H. Cummings, which we all regret, we would 
therefore most respectfully petition the colonel commanding to ap- 
point the Rev. A. J. Potter, of Company K, Thirty-second Regi- 
ment, Texas Cavalry, to fill the vacancy. Believing him to be an 
honest, upright. Christian man, and one who will do good in his 
calling, we would earnestly recommend him to your consideration. 

An honest, upright, Christian man wsls truly char- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 135 

acteristic of the man whose life we are trying to 
portray. Honest and just, even in that period of 
life marked with folly, but in the term of his Chris- 
tian profession truly upright, and honored by his 
fellow-men. He is always the man for two things, 
specially — things that ought to he done ^ and things hard 
to he done. If a camel was to go through a needle's 
eye, Mr. Potter was that camel; if feats involving 
dangers of limb or life were to be performed, he 
was the man to lead in the van; if the sick were in 
need of a kind nurse, he was called for; if a ser- 
mon was w^anted, he was the preacher; if the dead 
w^ere to be buried, he was ready to read, " Dust to 
dust; " and if an unruly, bad man needed chastising, 
the whip was in Mr. Potter's hands, both when in 
the army and in times of peace. That double char- 
acter of seeming opposites marks his life from ear- 
liest boyhood to this day; but as he advances in 
age he gets farther removed from the tragic and 
the perilous, though his natural strength seems but 
little abated. 

"Col. Woods was one of the few Confederate 
officers w^ho went into the war with a Christian 
profession, and came out with the same untarnished. 
In all the perplexing cares and sore temptations 
common to war-life, he ever maintained an unyield- 
ing religious fidelity to his God. Through all 
campaigns the Bible was his book. His place w^as 
never vacant at preaching or at prayer-meeting. 
When I led the prayer-meetings it was my custom 
to call on him to offer prayer, but the other min- 
isters did not. I called the colonel's attention to 



136 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the fact, and asked him if he felt free to worship 
in camp. If he had any reasons for not making 
his devotions public I would not call on him. He 
said, ' Brother Potter, I am perfectly free to wor- 
ship anywhere; do not hesitate to call on me.' 
Once, when marching through Colorado county, the 
colonel was quite unwell and sent for me, and said 
that he was not feeling well, and desired to ride on 
ahead of the regiment and stop at some house and 
rest, and that he wished me to accompany him. 
Captain Homes, who had been quite ill, proposed 
to ride with us. As we were riding along the road, 
the colonel said: 'Brother Potter, I wanted to get 
out from the bustle of camp, and have a good talk 
w^ith you to-day on the subject of religion, the 
never- failing delight of a pure, simple heart full of 
vital religion. It is the grandest theme that men 
and angels can contemplate.' Here the colonel 
touched the key-note of my soul, and gave it a 
grand lift for the upper spheres. About noon we 
came to a house; I dismounted and went in, and 
addressed the intelligent lady of the house, telling 
her that Col. Woods and Capt. Homes were with 
me, quite unwell, and wanted to rest and get dinner 
w^ith her. She told me to invite the gentlemen in, 
and I introduced them to the good lady. She 
pointed out a room, and told them to walk in and 
rest. She prepared a magnificent dinner, and in- 
vited us out to the table. The colonel and captain 
did not eat much like sick men. I ate what I 
thought was a hearty meal, but my sick men were 
still 'going for it.' I said: ' Madam, I owe you an 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 137 

apology; I have represented these men as being 
sick, but they do not eat much like sick men.' 
We all enjoyed a hearty laugh over it, and all 
agreed that they had done justice to the subject 
that day. My associations with Col. Woods as an 
officer, a Christian, and a gentleman, will ever be 
remembered with the pleasant things of the past. 

"The limits of our space prevent ns from fol- 
lowing the regiment through all its wanderings. 
In the spring of 1863, we were ordered to Browns- 
ville, on the Rio Grande. In many places we could 
not get water for our horses, only when we drew it 
from wells, so the command was divided and trav- 
eled in detachments, and our commissary sergeant 
found it very difficult to get meat. He had orders 
to kill beeves and give the Mexican owners vouch- 
ers, but he could not speak Spanish, and had no lit- 
tle trouble in settling with them; he got soAvorried, 
over it he feigned sick, and the calonel appointed 
me to furnish beef that day. We camped near 
to where the cattle gathered in large numbers for 
water. I examined them, and found but few iit for 
beef, except a few two-year-olds. There w^ere four 
companies of us, and I called on each company for 
men and ropes; then I pointed out the beeves, and 
they roped and butchered them. When we had 
caught three, the colonel came along and said, ^ Mr. 
Potter, how do you come on in getting beef? ' I 
answered, 'Pretty well, colonel; we have three, 
and the boys are after another.' The colonel smiled, 
and said I was doing w^ell. So we got our four 
beeves slaughtered, and the half-starved men began 



138 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to cook and eat. I reported to our commissary, 
and called for vouchers for four beeves. ^ What ! ' said 
he, *you have not killed four?' ^I have, sir,' said 
I ; ' this is my day to issue beef.' He said it was more 
than they were entitled to, and that a great deal 
of it would be wasted. I replied that after four 
companies had eaten what they wanted, and then 
cooked enough to take along to-morrow, out of 
four small beeves, but little would be left; and it 
Avas even so." 

Among the many noble specimens of Christian 
character which history has passed down to our 
day, few have excelled that of Col. Woods, of San 
Marcos, whose firmness in a conscientious discharge 
of religious duties, amid all the harassing and in- 
sidious temptations of military and war life, which 
led to the certain demoralization of so many Church- 
men and ministers of the gospel, deserves com- 
mendation from all true hearts. Years have rolled 
away since he passed out of the last ordeal of camp- 
life, and still he maintains all the claims of a Chris- 
tian gentleman, in all the relations of private and 
public life as a professional man. In the army he 
attended the prayer-meeting and preaching, and in 
bis own city home he is at his place in the Church, 
and ready to serve her interests when duty calls. 
Such models of Christian faithfulness we earnestly 
recommend to our young readers, as being highly 
deserving of their esteem and imitation. A con- 
sistent Christian is the highest type of man. Man- 
kind shall not fail to award merit to such a one. 

" We were dismounted at King's Ranch, and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 139 

marched into Brownsville on foot, leaving our 
horses in charge of a detail of men to herd them 
on the grass. Remaining there a short time, we 
were ordered back. While camping near Browns- 
ville, some of our hoys acted a little rudely, going 
into stores and asking the price of cavalry boots, 
and when the merchant would say, ' Ten dollars,' 
meaning in specie, they would lay down a ten-dol- 
lar bill in Confederate money, and walk out with 
the boots. Only a few did so. We received or- 
ders to start on a certain day. I had bought me a 
pony, and being mounted, the colonel detailed me 
to stay at Brownsville and bring up the mail that 
was expected to arrive in a day or so; and when 
the colonel was about to start, he said, ' Mr. Potter, 
I will not leave you in such a place unarmed; here, 
take one of my six-shooters.' I took it and buck- 
led it on my person. After the regiment was gone, 
the paper called the Brownsville Flag came out 
with a most slanderous attack on Woods's regi- 
ment, saying they were thieves, having robbed in- 
offensive citizens of private property. I was sitting 
on the front gallery of a kind of hotel near where 
several soldiers were reading the paper. They 
seemed to be quite elated at something; one said, 
' He has given Woods's regiment a hard hit;' an- 
other said, ' It is no more than they deserve, ' say- 
ing that they had a hard name at Port Lavaca. 
I said, * Gentlemen, wdiat regiment do you belong 
to?' One said, 'Shay's Battalion.' I said: 'You 
belong to a set of the most consummate villains I 
ever saw. It was you that did the devilment at 



140 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Port Lavaca; the people there hate yon, while 
they respect Woods's regiment, and regretted when 
they were ordered away. Let me see that paper, if 
you please.' They handed it to me, and I read the 
slander upon that noble regiment of men. I told 
them that I wonld go round and let that editor 
know that all of Woods's reo-inient were not 2:0 ne, 
and that all were not thieves. Col. Duif's regiment 
^vas stationed in the town, among whom I had sev- 
eral acquaintances. As I started to the printing- 
office to settle with the editor, they hnrried through 
their Cjuarters and informed the men of my inten- 
tion, and when I entered the office I saw a number 
of them coming on a run. Approaching the editor, 
I said, 'Are you the editor?' He said, 'I am.' I 
told him I wanted a copy of his paper. lie handed 
me one, and I paid him for it. I said: 'Sir, I am 
going to send this paper to Col. Woods; the regi- 
ment is camped only eight miles from here. The 
colonel shall see what a name j^ou have given his 
regiment, coward-like, w^hen you thought it was 
gone.' He said it was as good as it deserved. I 
slapped him in the face, and sent him staggering 
back against the wall of the room, and then said: 
*Now, sir, a few of the men may have done badly, 
but a little common sense and a moderate share of 
decency ought to have taught you not to slander a 
whole regiment, most of whom are noble, brave 
soldiers, because a few of their comrades have acted 
like thieves. I am going to send w^ord to Col. 
Woods to send me men enough to throw your press 
into the river, as you surely deserve nothing better. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 141 

While they put their lives in jeopardy to protect 
you and your ungrateful press, you repay them 
with a tissue of base slander on their good name.' 
Col. Duff''s men cried out, 'We will throw it in the 
river, Mr. Potter, if you will say the word.' I re- 
plied: 'No, gentlemen; Col. Woods's men are the 
ones to do that work; they have been outraged by 
this little ink-slinger^ and let them give it a deserved 
immersion.' I then mounted my pony and rode 
out to the regiment. Ko sooner was m}^ arrival 
made known, than a general shout went up from 
tlie camp, 'All praise to our parson! three cheers 
for him! ' They had heard of my vindication of 
their good name. That incautious editor went to 
Gen. Bee and got him to send an order to Col. 
Woods to put out a strong guard that night to 
prevent his men from returning to town, to upset 
his press; and the cowardly ' pencil-pusher ' took 
refuge in Matamoras, a town on the Mexican side 
of the Rio Grande. I learned that Gen. Bee placed 
Col. Duff's men on the road, with strict orders not 
to let any of Col. Woods's men come into town 
that night; but as soon as the men were informed 
of the object of their being sent there, they gave a 
general shout, ' Iluri'ah for Woods's regiment! ' and 
then they were ordered to return to town." 

Having such a colonel commanding as Col. Woods, 
most of his men must have entertained a sacred re- 
gard for the rights of property with the private 
citizen, and such was their general character where- 
ever they were encamped through the entire cam- 
paign. Indeed, many of them were of the highest 



142 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

type of Texan society: men of the learned profes- 
sions, honest farmers, and industrious mechanics. 
Seldom has a more worthy set of men been asso- 
ciated in peace or war. But a few black sheep 
sometimes appear in the whitest-fleeced flocks. 

That imprudent editor at Brownsville was indeed 
rash and hasty in printing that oftensive paragraph 
which called down on his inconsiderate pate the 
ire of Mr. Potter, who never allowed himself or 
his friends to be misrepresented, without a defense. 
In this case, except in a few instances of guilt, that 
accusation was a public slander. In the common 
regard of men, a few great wrongs of a minority 
attach a shade on the associated or kindred maior- 
ity, for the tacit belief that contact essentially tints 
in evil things; but there is a philosophic limit to 
the sentiment, and a public journalist should mark 
the distinctive line, and never make such an unjust, 
such a silly mingling of the evil and the good — the 
guilty and the innocent. He certainly received a 
competent rebuke for his temerity and indiscretion. 

Besides Mr. Potter's readiness to repair injuries 
or redress wrongs inflicted on himself or his friends, 
his high social qualities were one cause of his pop- 
ularity and success through life. He loves society, 
in cabins or palaces, in times of peace or war — he 
is " all things to all men; " he is at home anywhere; 
he is not too rich to be one with the poor, nor too 
poor to be equal with the rich; not too great to be 
at home in the private soldier's camp, nor too hum- 
ble to be equal to the highest oflicers in the army. 
He is little, and he is o^reat. He is on a level with 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 143 

his brother in a hovel, but at the same time he 
measures equal to his more favored brother in a 
palace. 

He is a fine reader of character. He can discern 
its nice pencilings in the finer lineaments of that 
noblest thing, "the human face divine." He has 
also a well-marked perception of the laws and lines 
of delicate proprieties. He has well cultivated the 
rare art of not speaking unadvisedly; the art so 
valuable to man, not to ofiPend, but to please all 
men for good. He is popular — a favorite among 
all ranks in the Church and in the world; even 
those with whom he has had trouble, learning his 
true character, both respect and fear him. 

When in the army, he was a long time both a 
private soldier and a zealous preacher, passing 
through all the daily drill and marches of a private 
soldier, and holding prayer-meetings and preaching 
to the troops, whenever and wherever religious 
services could be held in the day or at night. Both 
privates and ofiicers became attached to him. Not 
to like such a man was akin to the impossible. In 
associating with the private ranks he knew just 
how far to go not to lower the sacred dignity of his 
profession; he would interchange innocent jokes 
with them, never allowing such as were, or bor- 
dered on, the obscene. He indulged farther in the 
line of the mirthful and the playful than ministers 
unlike himself might go, without damage — allow- 
ing them to take hold on his person and tussle him 
a little; but when he called them to the place of 
worship, they were there, and paid the greatest re- 



144 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

spect to the rules of order and decorum. He had 
a line art of ilhistrating the truths of the gospel 
by the scenes and little incidents of daily soldier- 
iife. He heard a strange private from another reg- 
iment, who did not know Mr. Potter, telling another 
soldier that he could tell the preacher when he 
might come, by his walk; hearing it as he passed, 
he made it a part of his theme at that hour, show- 
ing the importance of a Christian being known by 
his orderly walk, in the army and everywhere. 
When the regiment remained at one place several 
days, sometimes their meetings might have remind- 
ed one of an old-field camp-meeting. A great har- 
vest of good has resulted from those army revivals. 
In all of Mr. Potter's itinerant travels since those 
memorable days, he has met here and there those 
fellow-soldiers who ever give him a cordial and a 
joyous greeting. But in the last great day their 
reunion shall be jubilant indeed! 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 145 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Mr. Potter was passing the hotel at Beaumont one 
day, and saw a young lady sitting on the gallery 
weeping. He advanced to her and inquired the 
cause of her tears. She informed him that her re- 
lations, living near Seguin, had conveyed her to 
Houston, and left her there to go on the Central 
road to Navasoto, and there take the stage to her 
brother's. She told him her name, saying that 
while at Houston she had fallen in with an old 
woman, who had decoyed her to Beaumont, telling 
her the Beaumont road was the Central. That old 
woman was the proprietress of a bawdy-house in 
Galveston, and w^as .trying to ensnare that virtuous 
3^oung lady to her house of ill-fame. Mr. Potter 
told her that a number of men in the regiment to 
which he belonged were from about Seguin, and he 
would hunt them up, and if they could vouch for 
her innocence that he would raise money to send 
her to her brother, as by this time her means were 
exhausted. On inquiry, he found several men who 
readily recognized the innocent young woman, and 
they aided in supplying the money to send her out 
of the snare into which she had unluckily fallen; 
but it was with some difficulty that they could get 
her from the shrewd and false representations of the 
abandoned old woman, who was eager to hold her 
10 



146 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

valuable captive; she clung to her with great te- 
nacity, but finally they succeeded in rescuing the 
innocent girl from her grasp, and sent her on to her 
brother. 

Here Mr. Potter was the means of the relief of the 
captive bird. lie w^as ever ready to aid in relieving 
human distress. Sight of tears, the fruits of sor- 
sow, ever touched him. 

"In the fall of 1863 Ave were stationed at Beau- 
mont on the ]N"ueces River. Feeling that the bur- 
den on me was too hard, that of keeping up the 
religious services and performing all the duties of a 
soldier — being a young preacher, I needed some 
time for reading and study also — I sent a commu- 
nication to Col. Woods urging him to appoint a 
chaplain, and not to consider me in the way of any 
one; that I would do all I could to assist and en- 
courage any one he might appoint; that I could not 
be longer responsible for the religious services of 
the regiment. About that time I received a letter 
from Col. J. J. Myers, commanding Debray's reg- 
iment. Twenty -sixth Texas Cavalry. Col. Myers and 
myself, when at home, lived in the same community. 
The following is a copy of the colonel's letter: 

Eev. a. J. Potter, Thirty-second Eegiment, Texas Cavalry — 
Keverend and Dear Sir: My regiment being without a chaplain, and 
hearing of your great prosperity and success in preaching to sol- 
diers, and the high esteem in which you are held by the officers and 
men of the regiment to which you belong, and the high place you 
hold in the confidence and esteem of the people in the community 
in which you live, as well as a large number of my regiment; and 
believing that you have performed the drudgery of a private soldier 
long enough to be entitled to an easier position, I therefore tender 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 147 

yon the office of chaplain in this regiment. Hoping tliis will meet 
your favorable consideration, I have the honor to be your obedient 
servant, J. J. Myers, 

Lieut. -col. commandinf^ Debray's Regiment, Texas Cavalry. 

" To this kind and flattering letter of Col. Myers 
I replied that I would visit his regiment at the ear- 
liest period possible, and have the matter under fur- 
ther consideration. We were ordered from Beaumont 
to Old Caney. On arriving there, I found that Col. 
Myers's regiment had also been ordered to that place; 
and soon we were camped near together. So I vis- 
ited the regiment, and proposed to preach a kind of 
trial sermon. I wanted to ascertain, as far as I 
could, how they might like my preaching. This 
regiment had been in the service about two years, 
and had never had a chaplain. Col. Myers was not 
a religious man, but he was a high-minded and no- 
ble-hearted gentleman. Arrangements were made 
for me to preach at night. The officers got together 
and made a large fire. Among them was Hon. L. 
J. Story, now Lieutenant-governor of the State of 
Texas, to whom I am indebted for many courtesies 
during my stay with the regiment. Col. Myers in- 
quired of the officers the next day how their men 
were pleased with me and my preaching. They 
said that all were well pleased, and anxious for my 
appointment. So the colonel wrote out my com- 
mission at once, as follows: 

Head-quarters Debray's Regiment, Texas Cavalry,") 
Camp Dixie, Jan. 30, 1864. J 

Rev. a. J. Potter — Sir : You are hereby appointed Chaplain of 
this regiment, subject to the approval of the President of the Con- 
federate States. You will signify your willingness to accept of that 



148 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

position by applying (through the proper channel) for the con- 
firmation of your appointment as such. I have the honor to be 
very respectfully yours, J. J. Myers, 

Lieut. -col. commanding Debray's Regiment, Texas Cavalry. 

"With many uprising emotions of gratitude and 
fear, I began to prepare to take my leave of my 
old comrades, whose hardships and trials I had 
shared for a period of nearly two years. Just as I 
was leaving, Col. Woods took me aside and assured 
me of his highest esteem and confidence. He ex- 
plained to me the delicate situation in which he 
stood, and gave a satisfactory reason why he did 
not appoint me chaplain. I assured the colonel 
that I had not, indulged the slightest unkind feel- 
inor toward him for the course he had taken." 

The parting of Mr. Potter and Col. Woods and 
the noble men of that honorable regiment could not 
have been attended with other than sad regrets and 
tearful emotions. Two long, toilsome years they 
had been as one family, sharing their mutual priva- 
tions, toils, dangers, and sufferings, while in camp 
and on long and weary marches, ^ow they were 
parting, as far as they knew, not to meet till the last 
great meeting of the race at the bar of the final 
Judge. I^ot knowing what were to be their desti- 
nations the remainder of the war, or what its issues, 
or when it might close, they took the parting hand 
with the shade of war's uncertain hopes veiling their 
future. 

Associations of men attach them to each other by 
ties essentially arising out of the relations involved 
in the associations themselves, and they are strength- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 149 

enecl by length of time and endeared to their sub- 
jects by the severity of the hardships to main- 
tain their mutual welfare; and those combined 
toils, which more clearly bring to light man's single 
inability successfully to combat his foes, and demon- 
strate the absolute dependence of one upon another, 
the more firmly ally them to each other. We see 
the same principle developed among beasts and 
birds in the dreary winter's chill, in their herding 
and Hocking together in order to resist the chill of 
the inclement storm by their unified animal heat. 
Of all the endearing relations of men outside of the 
blood-kindred domain, that of the patriot is per- 
haps the most unifying. It readily cements a na- 
tion's heart as the heart of a single man; and well 
it may, as a nation's weal is the interest alike of all 
its citizens. In some instances the ties of patriot- 
ism have proved stronger than the ligaments of 
blood relations. In fact, the soldier gives up, in a 
sense, wife, babes, kindred, and possessions, and 
becomes one of a soldier or patriot brotherhood for 
the defense of their common country's life and 
honor. For the time of the hazards of the war his 
fellow-soldiers are his greatest, truest brotherhood; 
and ties of that nature arise between them — ties 
which hold them in tender remembrance to the 
portals of the grave. When the writer was a little 
boy, he remembers to have seen and heard a few old 
revolutionary soldiers tell of their battles and show 
their scars. After having been parted many years, 
they would tenderly embrace each other with tears. 
A common country's glor}^ and mutual hardships 



150 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

allied them in the dearest recollections of the past. 
Such scenes of common toils and sorrows, and the 
uniting cords binding together the patriot bands, 
can but remind the reader of the allied army of the 
soldiers of the cross, who are made one body by one 
Spirit, under one general Head, all being brethren, 
having their common sorrows and sharing their 
mutual w^oes, while " for each other flows the sym- 
pathizing tear;" and when life's hard strifes are 
past, the victory gained, and all the troops get home, 
they shall meet to hymn the victor's song while the 
ages roll. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 151 



CHAPTER XIX. 

" The course I decided upon in entering on my du- 
ties as chaplain was to get acquainted with the 
men, which I did by visiting each company and go- 
ing from mess to mess, eating and talking with 
them. I found but comparatively few religious 
men in the regiment, yet there were some who 
were as true to their profession as fidelity itself. 
Prominent among these was Mr. Lee Rogan. He 
was brought up by Old-school Presbyterian parents, 
and was a member of that Church. He was a law- 
yer by profession; modest and dignified, courteous 
and polite, he possessed all the elements of a re- 
fined Christian gentleman, a model of manly vir- 
tues. The vulgarity and profanity of camp-life 
ever grated harshly on his refined sensibilities. He 
is still living in Lockhart, honored and respected in 
the circles in which he moves. I ever found him 
willing to aid in all the religious services in the 
camp, in prayer and exhortation. Whenever we 
encamped near a town, which we frequently did, 
I would preach in tbe churches, to give the cit- 
izens a chance to attend, and would call on Mr. 
Rogan to exhort, and he always elevated his audi- 
ences to heights of religious ecstasy by his almost 
unsurpassed eloquence. The sacred ties that bound 
us together through the struggles of a long cam- 



152 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

paign still hold us in the bonds of a most tender 
regard for each other. It was proposed that we 
hold prayer-meetings in each company every week, 
by rotation; so, one night two men came after me 
to hold a prayer-meeting in their company; they 
had made a good lire, which would give sufficient 
light and heat. On going to the place, I found 
quite a crowd of men with their blankets spread 
on the ground, gambling with cards. The men 
who had made the fire for a prayer-meeting re- 
ported to the captain, who, with bitter oaths, said 
he would move them; but I said, 'Hold on, cap- 
tain; let me manage that case, and if I fail in mov- 
ing them, then I will call on you.' Walking up to 
them, I said, ' Boys, did you know that this fire was 
made for the purpose of holding a prayer-meeting? ' 
They said they had not heard of it, but finding a 
good fire they concluded to have a game. I told them 
to close their services a little while, keep their seats, 
and we would hold our prayer-meeting. ' Perhaps 
some of you can sing, and we shall be glad to have 
you join with us.' They all remained, and some of 
them did sing, and it all passed oft* in good order. 

" In the spring of 18G4, our regiment was ordered 
to Louisiana, to enter upon that fearful campaign 
against Gen. Banks, which lasted forty dreadful 
days, beginning at Mansfield and ending at Yellow 
Bayou, near Simmsport. Col. Myers had sent his 
wagon to Navasoto, in charge of the teamster, to 
remain there until he could come on himself, en 
route to Louisiana. A large number of men who 
were at home when the reo'iment marched to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 153 

Louisiana were ordered to meet it at IN'avasoto. 
The colonel had made arrangements with the quar- 
termaster to furnish corn for his team, and he let 
the teamster have corn a few times, and then cursed 
him and told him he had no more for him. Col. 
Myers sent me on a few days ahead of him to start 
the wagon, intending to overtake us on horseback. 
On reaching Navasoto, the teamster informed me 
that the quartermaster had refused to issue any 
more corn for his mules, and that every time he 
went to him he would curse him. In the mean- 
time about fifteen of the furloughed men had come 
in. I told the teamster to get a sack, and I would 
go with him to the quartermaster and try him once 
more; and we approached him, the teamster telling 
him that his mules were suffering for feed, and that 
he had come once more to ask him for corn; but 
the pugnacious quartermaster replied, with an oath: 
'Did I not tell 3^ou I had no corn for you? Now, 
sir, do not trouble me any more.' I then said, 
' Captain, I am going to tell you the mules must 
have corn, and you must not curse me.' lie ex- 
claimed, ' Who are you?' I said: ' Sir, I am a white 
man, and I do not allow a wdiisky-bloat of a (piar- 
termaster to curse me; and, sir, I demand corn for 
those mules. I have about fifteen well-armed men, 
and if you do not issue tVie corn at once, I shall be 
under the necessity of helping myself.' ' I defy 
you to undertake that ; I will put you under arrest.' 
I said, ' If you do not mind, I will put you under 
arrest.' Flying into a rage, he said, 'Are you will- 
ing to settle tliis matter with six-shooters?' 'Cer- 



154 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tainly, captain/ I said; ^that just suits me splen- 
didly.' *Well, sir,' he said, ' I see you have your pis- 
tol on; just wait a little till I can step in and get 
mine.' Rushing into his office, he was followed by a 
gentleman who knew me, and who told him that I 
was the chaplain of the regiment, and came to the 
door, smiling, and said, 'Preacher, do you want to 
fight?' *lN"o, sir, I do not; it is corn I want. I 
could, however, be provoked into a fight, though it 
would be unpleasant.' The captain proposed to 
shake hands over the ' bloody chasm,' and said I 
could send my wagon and get what corn I wanted." 

A determined man, with a strange influence over 
mankind. 

"After the battles had ended, we were camped 
on Red River, several miles below Alexandria. A 
man lived near our camp who had manufactured 
and barreled up a large quantity of rum, and had 
buried it across the river to conceal it from the sol- 
diers. Our men got an intimation of it from the 
negroes. The report reached the colonel's ears, 
and he sent for the man, and told him if it were 
true he would furnish him a guard, and he might 
remove it to some place for safe-keeping. He de- 
nied having the rum. The colonel told him if he 
had it his men would find it, and then it would be 
too late to save it. Our men took their iron ram- 
rods and punched into the sand along a bar, until 
they struck the barrels, and unearthed about eight- 
een of them from their sandy graves. They knocked 
the head out of a barrel, and just 'went for' the 
accursed 'fire-water.' When the owner heard of 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 155 

it he went to the colonel for help to save his rum, 
but the colonel told him it was too late — the men 
were beyond his control; that if he had adhered to 
his advice he could have saved it. I do not think 
I ever heard such a racket, or witnessed such a 
scene. If the lower regions were ever portrayed, 
it was there. Some were yelling like a band of 
wild Comanches, some singing merry ditties, some 
preaching in a solemn manner, some praying de- 
voutly, some cursing bitterly, some laughing, oth- 
ers crying; some were loving everybody, and others 
seemed to hate every thing. One of them, who 
was always distant toward me, a young man of a 
wicked and stubborn nature, became quite social 
and pious, and declared to me that he was a preach- 
er, a Methodist preacher. Indeed, the confusion 
w^as that of bedlam — the scene beggars description. 
Man's love of intoxicating liquors is as strong as 
death, yet nothing can be a greater foe to him. It 
destroys his reason, unfits him for any duties in 
this life, and disqualifies him for the solemn ordeal 
of death. It makes him a demon incarnate. Some 
of them made a raft, and shipped a barrel of the rum 
down the river a few miles, to Woods's regiment; 
and after dark they entombed it in the parade- 
ground, and then they would go out there to play 
their amusing games. They made a hole in the 
hidden barrel, and inserted a cane or reed in it, and 
would kneel down and suck the merry stimulant 
from its buried home. How wise and good man 
might be if he was as fond of wisdom and virtue, and 
would spend equal energy to attain unto them ! v^ 



156 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

" While still encamped on Red Eiver, Col. Myers 
set out a hook one night and caught a large cat- 
fish. I walked down to his head-quarters, and found 
the colonel and his staff of officers standing around 
and admiring his fine fish. The colonel said, ' Look 
there, parson, and see what a fine fish we have 
caught.' I said, 'It is a very fine fish indeed, 
colonel,' adding, ' Colonel, I expect to catch as large 
a one up at our mess in a few days, and if we do, 
we want you to come up and help us eat it.' That 
polite invitation started up a roar of laughter, and 
the witty colonel, seeing where I was driving to, 
said, 'Thank you, parson; as we already have one 
in hand, we would be pleased to have you dine with 
us.' ' Than,k you, colonel,' said I; 'I will be much 
pleased to accept your kind invitation ; I shall surely 
be around in due time.' I enjoyed the colonel's fish 
hugely, but we were never lucky enough to cap- 
ture one, to repay his kindness." 

Ready wit is one of Mr. Potter's natural gifts. 
To listen to his sharp cuts of wit, when in an amus- 
ing mood, one would think him a genuine son of 
the Emerald Isle; but he is Missouri's child. 

One prominent element in Mr. Potter's ministe- 
rial life was that of desiring and courting the re- 
spect and good feeling of all men, but not at the 
cost of truth, candor, or honesty. JTo man enjoys 
the reciprocity of kind social feeling with a greater 
zest than he. Many of his life-joys arise from the 
genial interchange of friendly feeling with his fel- 
low-men ; yet no man is ever more ready to cen- 
sure and correct their evil deeds. But, too, a more 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 157 

unselfish motive than mere self-enjoyment moved 
him to seek a tender place in the hearts of men, 
that he might do them good as the minister of 
Jesus Christ, which motive is not only allowahle in 
ministerial candor, but takes on itself the phase of 
duty. Kind feeling with men for a minister of the 
gospel opens the door of their hearts to his ap- 
proach, but the opposite closes it against him. 
A cheerful though grave minister will ever find a 
hearty welcome into the most sincere regards of 
all men, who are not of the truly abandoned grade, 
w^hile one of an opposite type may meet from men 
a respectful reserve. St. Paul sought to please all 
men for their good to edification — not, however, at 
the sacrifice of principle. 

The wear}^ four months' campaign along the Red 
River was one of unutterable hardships and sufi"er- 
ings to the army — hunger, sickness, and unbearable 
toils in the battle-strife, or standing guard, sorely 
tried the temper and constitution of hardy men. 
Many of them fell in battle, others were wounded, 
and many enfeebled from want of nourishing food 
and doing extra duties. The armies had well-nigh 
devastated the country, and but little provisions 
could be had save bread and sugar until the black- 
berries ripened, which added a luxury to their com- 
missariat. Bread, sugar, and blackberries, com- 
prised their rations. Such diet was trying on the 
wounded and sick, and after the hard fighting was 
ended, many of the men got sick — in fixct, the camps 
were like one great hospital. In all these hard- 
ships, perhaps no man realized a greater share than 



158 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Mr. Potter. Though not a private soldier, yet he 
was engaged the while in trying to relieve the 
wounded, sick, and dying. ]N"ov/ he is seen on the 
bloody field, where shells are falling like blazing 
stars, aiding in carrying off the wounded; then he 
is in the hospital nursing them, and again he is out 
hunting up food they might relish, which was dif- 
ficult to obtain. When tears and cries of suffering 
are before him, he has no personal dignity to fall 
back upon, to shield him from the drudgery of 
helping to administer relief. Then he is solely 
clothed about with the dignity ofjnty. He is preach- 
er, doctor, nurse, and commissary. When the half- 
starved and feeble troops were on night-guard, you 
see him along their picket-lines carrying them re- 
freshing draughts of water. Here many of the 
boys were almost naked, many shoeless. Mr. Pot- 
ter at one time was without shoes, but a gener- 
ous sick man gave him his own shoes to enable 
him to go the rounds to help the disabled. At 
one time one of the lieutenants was on parade 
w^ithout shoes. Brave men, deserving a better fate. 
Mr. Potter, in those days of misfortune and grief 
to his countrymen, was indeed as an angel of mer- 
cy, to relieve the living and to console the dying. 
Dr. McFall w^as the regimental surgeon — a great 
and noble man, a good doctor, and ever kind. He 
ordered the disabled to be taken back to hospitals, 
and Mr. Potter is in the lead of those engaged in 
their removal to better quarters. After their safe 
removal to the hospitals, the colonel sent him home 
to rest. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 159 

" During my stay at home I preached all through 
Coldwell county, and collected one hundred dollars 
in specie, to buy nourishment for the sick in the 
army, which supplied them until the war closed. 
In appealing to the people for contributions to 
victual the sick soldiers, I told them that a large 
number of the moneyed and leading men started out 
furiously patriotic, urging every man to go into 
the war, and helped fit them out, and there were 
others who were ten-strikers, who pitched in, and 
were going to kill ten Yankees as an easy job. 
Some of them had managed not to go at all, or had 
gotten out of the ranks somehow, and their ardent 
patriotism had greatly cooled down, and they i^e- 
minded me of the man who said that the first 
three months after his marriage he loved his wife 
so well he could have eaten her up, but before the 
next tl^ree had rolled away she had become so quar- 
relsome that he really wished to God he had eaten 
her." 

When the war was fairly opened there were many 
great patriots who could easily put to flight a doz- 
en Yankees, with old flint-lock muskets, and they 
shrewdly managed by their hot-headed patriotism 
to get other cooler patriots into the ranks; and if 
they got in at all, many of them got out somehow, 
and speculated on the interest of the " war wid- 
ows," and that of the government they loved so 
well. They were all over their beloved Confeder- 
acy, and hordes of them grew rich on their fraudu- 
lent gains — a harvest reaped by the keen - edged 
blade of their pretended patriotism. Mr. Potter 



160 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

was no braggart — he toiled for the weal of man- 
kind. He pleads for the sick, the helpless, and the 
needy, not to enrich his own purse. 

In the fall of 1864 Mr. Potter returned to his 
regiment, which was still in the State of Louisiana. 
On his way, he called to pass the night at a house 
in Eastern Texas. It was the home of wealth, re- 
linement, and comfort. The lady and her daughter 
were Episcopalians, who seemed to be alone, except 
a youthful Baptist minister, who was neatly clad in 
a respectable clerical garb. He was quite talka- 
tive, and seemed to estimate his merits at their 
highest marketable value. Mr. Potter, knowing 
that citizens generally in that region did not very 
cheerfully entertain soldiers, was not very commu- 
nicative, and really did not care to talk on that 
subject, and passed the time till supper was an- 
nounced in reading and listening to the gifted 
young divine, who seemed to have on hand such a 
volume of facts in regard to himself and his Apos- 
tolic Church, dating back without a broken chro- 
nological link to the banks of the Jordan, that he 
fully occupied all the spare moments in descanting 
on those important themes to his lone, silent audi- 
tor — having told him that his calling was that of 
a Baptist minister, whose chief business in this case 
seemed to be to convince all men that his Church 
was the only true Apostolic Church in the world, 
having been set up on Jordan's stream by the mem- 
orable "John the Baptist " (though he never was 
an apostle), and to get all the world to join it, and 
to proselyte other Churches into it. He had greatly 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 161 

annoyed the Episcopal landlady and her daughter 
from time to time, in trying to unveil their eyes 
that they might clearly see his glorious Church in 
the far-removed ages of the past, rising and drip- 
ping out of the Jordan, as the glory-attired moon 
coming up from the bosom of the ocean. With 
easy, self-stiffened dignity, that inflated ministerial 
neophyte approached the table, and as usual, soon 
began his pet theme — his Church, immersion, etc. 
The polite young lady inquired of him if immer- 
sion was essential to salvation. He replied that it was 
not essential to salvation, but that it was essential to obe- 
dience. The young lady remarked that she was not 
informed enough on theological subjects to discuss 
the matter with him, and she would have to call 
this stranger (alluding to Mr. Potter) to help her, 
saying, ''Stranger, can you not help me?" Mr. 
Potter replied that he was not in a mood of mind 
to discuss the matter, having just ended a long day's 
ride, but that he would not object to ask the gen- 
tleman a few questions, if he would grant him the 
liberty of doing so. " Certainly, certainly, any 
question you may choose, pertinent to the subject." 
Mr. Potter began: "Your Church believes in the 
possibility of apostasy, does it not?" "No, sir; 
no, sir," was quickly replied. " You know but lit- 
tle of the Baptist doctrine, if you think that." 
"Very well, I stand corrected," said Mr. Potter. 
"Well, sir, please tell me how one is to get into 
your Church." "Why, you have to give in an ex- 
perience of grace, and satisfy the Church that you 
are converted — born again — and then be immersed." 
H 



162 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

" You say you give in an experience of grace, and 
assure the Church that you are regenerated, and 
you say that a converted soul cannot fall away and 
be lost? " *' ]N'o, sir; a soul born again can never be 
lost. It is sure to get to heaven." " If, then, I tell an 
experience of grace to the Church, and it pronounces 
me a converted man, I am sure to get to heaven, 
am I not?" "Yes, sir; you cannot fail. None of 
God's children can ever be lost." " But now," said 
Mr. Potter, "suppose after you have heard my ex- 
perience, and called it good, and voted me the right 
of membership in your Church, then I refuse to be 
immersed, how will you manage my case? You 
say I am converted and cannot be lost, but you also 
say that obedience is essential to salvation, and that 
immersion is essential to obedience; but I refuse to 
be immersed; what will you do with me?" The 
gifted young divine seemed enveloped in a mist — 
his theological lamp did not dispel its gloom — he 
looked down on his plate, began to scratch its face 
with his fork, rose up suddenly, and hurrying to 
the door slammed it together behind him, and did 
not appear any more w^hile Mr. Potter remained. 

The jubilant young lady arose from the table and 
danced up and down the dining-room, saying that 
she would not take fifty dollars for the young po- 
lemic's defeat, declaring that he had annoyed her 
no little for some considerable time with his ex- 
clusive immersion, and associated themes. The old 
lady raised up her spectacles, and said, " Stranger, 
I would like to know more about you, if you have 
no objections to speaking about yourself" " I am a 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 163 

soldier, madam, and when we have a little rest-time 
I get the soldiers together under the trees and 
preach to them." ''A preacher, are you? " "Yes, 
madam." "What denomination do you represent?" 
"Methodist." "Well, sir, you are welcome here, 
and we will ever try to give you a pleasant recep- 
tion when it may suit you to call." 

How beautifully Christian-like is it for all Chris- 
tians to act in cordial fellowship one with another, 
and not be ever striving to unchurch each other, 
and to make the world believe that theirs is the 
only Church! 

" On reaching Woodville, in Eastern Texas, I put 
up with Dr. McCulloch for the night. I had stopped 
over Sunday and preached in that town, on my way 
home, and had shared the generous hospitality of 
the doctor at that time. The citizens, having heard 
of my arrival, sent in a petition for me to stay un- 
til Tuesday night, and preach for them again. I 
accordingly did so, and there being such an interest 
manifested, I concluded to continue the meeting 
until Sunday; and it resulted in a glorious revival. 
Among my hearers was an old Universalist. At 
first he would slip in the door at night, and take a 
seat in the back part of the house. I noticed that 
every time I preached he got one bench nearer, till 
Sunday, when he came to the front seat. When I 
came in, he said to me: ' Sir, can I sit here? I am 
a little hard of hearing, and I like your talk, sir, I 
like 3^our talk very much.' I told him to keep his 
seat. He wept profusely while I was preaching, 
and at the close of the services he invited me home 



164 Andkew Jackson Potter. 

with him. I went, and tried to point out to him 
the errors of his creed, and commended him to the 
Saviour of men. That night he was converted, 
and went home shouting through the streets." 

Since Mr. Potter entered the ministry of Jesus 
Christ, preaching has ever been the one great busi- 
ness of his life. Wherever Providence cast his lot 
he was ready to preach, to any people who might 
desire to hear, no matter who or where, in the week 
or on Sunday. If he had no learned sermon "cut 
and dried" for the occasion, no matter; he ever 
had enough of religion and theology on hand to 
comfort Christians, and to tell sinners how to get 
religion. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 165 



CHAPTER XX. 

The army now left Louisiana and returned to Texas, 
and Avbile on the ferry-boat crossing the Sabine 
River, Brigadier-general Debray had an advisory 
interview with Mr. Potter on the immoralities of 
some men in his brigade, saying that many com- 
plaints were made against them in Louisiana about 
their marauding on citizens' hogs and other things. 
He said that he was desirous of his men demeaning 
themselves in an upright and honest way, so as to 
maintain a good character at all times, and now es- 
pecially, as they were entering Texas. General 
Debray was a high-toned gentleman, and ever acted 
with a noble sense of honor. He took pride in hear- 
ing his men spoken of in terms of merited praise. 
He truly remarked that it was not a mere individ- 
ual concern — that the entire brigade was involved. 
What a few men might do was charged to them all 
collectively. It was not what Johnson, Jones, or 
Smith may have done, but it would be what De- 
bray's men did; and in all after-time, when one of 
his men might chance to meet with one of those 
injured citizens, he would share the odium of the 
guilt of a few men in the judgment of that citizen. 
He kindly requested Mr. Potter to go through all 
the companies and messes and remonstrate with the 
troops, show them the folly and wrong of such con- 



166 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

duct, and try to stop their marauding, saying that 
he would talk with his officers — some of whom he 
feared had connived at the thing, and, may be, had 
eaten of the harvest. 

Mr. Potter said to the General that those men had 
been almost necessitated to their ugly habits of for- 
aging on the citizens. Hunger, and almost starva- 
tion, had driven them to it. The country over there 
had been overrun with armies, and rations were 
more than ''short," and the men had undergone 
incredible privations and sufferings. "And now, 
General," said he, "if you will allow me to make a 
suggestion, I will vouch for its being an eftectual 
remedy. Do you order all the tithes brought to 
your camps, and have plenty of provisions issued to 
each mess, and I assure you the men will stop their 
marauding. The people have to haul their tithes 
to their county-seats to the government tithe-house, 
and they will haul it to your camps, in each county 
as readily as to the commissary at the county-seat. 
These men have hungered and toiled long enough 
to deserve full rations in their own State, where 
there is plenty; no waste need be the result — a 
good supply is all that is w^anted." The General 
approved the idea and adopted the plan, and no 
more complaints were heard of his men going to 
smoke-houses, corn-cribs, fodder-stacks, or potatoe- 
patches, to forage in the darkness of night; but with 
all the cravings of hunger satiated, they lay down 
and slept at night with a quiet stomach and a bet- 
ter conscience. 

We have heard and read of the hardships of sol- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 167 

diers amid the terrible perils of war. History's 
page transmits the memory of them to our day. 
Reading the record, we seem to hear their unmit- 
igated wails echoing along the bends and curves of 
time's rolling stream. Historians, as sentinels on 
its banks, seem fond of sending their sad notes to 
the end of the great river — its merging into eterni- 
ty. But soldiers of the " Lost Cause " have endured 
in silent sorrow equal sufferings, and no trumpet 
of fame tells the story of their woes — their cause 
was unpopular. The last day shall hang up the 
picture of that dreadful scene. 

On the Christmas-eve of 1864 General Debray's 
brigade encamped around old San Augustine, and 
Mr. Potter called on an old preacher residing there 
to get the use of the Methodist church the next 
day, which was the Sabbath-day. The minister was 
a devoted man, but seemed not to have any faith in 
doing his community any good by preaching to 
them at Christmas-time. His name was Samuel 
"Williams, a Texan pioneer. He asked Mr. Potter 
what he wanted to do with the church. He replied, 
"To hold religious service." "Why," said the old 
gentleman, "there is no use; you cannot get the 
people to church Christmas-times; they will be 
attending dances and parties." Mr. Potter informed 
him that he was not dependent on the citizens for 
an audience; that he had his congregation with him 
— the soldiers. "0!" said the old man, "you can 
get the house." So Mr. Potter preached on Sun- 
day, and gave out an appointment for night; but 
the old preacher said as it had rained, and was quite 



168 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

muddy, and would be dark, that few would venture 
out. The soldiers could not attend in the day-time, 
and the audience was rather small that morning, so 
the old man thought it would be less at night — not 
thinking about the soldiers, who cared little for 
mud or darkness. Night came, and the streets were 
illuminated with the lamps of the soldiers going to 
church; and they thronged the house, and a revival 
started among them which lasted three weeks, and 
added sixty members to the Army Christian Asso- 
ciation, which was of the nature of an army Church. 
Sometimes mourners were on their knees in differ- 
ent parts of the church, and would send for Mr. 
Potter to come and pray for them, and then a sim- 
ilar request would reach him, and he would send 
for some of those other preachers; but they would 
say, "No, we want Potter; he has been with us in 
Louisiana, and ate bread and sugar with us; we want 
him to pray with us now.'' how mutual hard- 
ships unite the hearts of men! and a faithful minis- 
ter of Jesus Christ in times of afflictions and dangers 
is never forgotten. 

At that great meeting Mr. Potter was favored 
with the help of several ministerial brethren of great 
ability and usefulness. He got Columbus Sawyer, 
a private in Woods's regiment, excused from duty to 
aid in the revival^he Avas a young man of great 
promise to the Church; also the Rev. Mr. Burk, P. 
E., who held a quarterly-meeting there in the mean- 
time; likewise the Rev. E. P. Rogers, P. C, and the 
Revs. White and Wadkins, refugees from Louisiana; 
and also the resident minister, Mr. Samuel Williams, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 169 

These men at difterent times labored in the revival 
to advantage. Mr. Potter had much of the altar 
labor to perform; he also kept up day-service for 
the benefit of the citizens. 

His labors were wonderfully blessed in getting 
men to reform their lives during all his campaigns 
in Texas and Louisiana, whenever he found an op- 
portunity to preach any length of time to his com- 
rades; and between them and their earnest and 
faithful chaplain and fellow-soldiers there sprung up 
an attachment which memory shall ever hold sacred 
till their grand reunion on the immortal plains, 
where the sound of battle is not heard. That Army 
Church did much good. General Debray said he 
was proud of his men then. Full rations worked 
well. 

The following amusing, truthful story is taken 
from Mr. Potter's manuscript. The lady of this 
story had been tauglit by a certain Campbellite 
preacher that the Methodist Church had been the 
efficient agent in bringing on the war, hence her 
antipathy to Methodist preachers. Her object in 
accosting Mr. Potter as she did was to excite his ire, 
and get him to leave her house; but she had en- 
countered the wrong man that time. He at once 
read her intentions, and instantly became fire-proof 
against all her heated insults. Texas has some rare 
specimens of feminine pugnacity. 

"One day when our regiment was marching 
through the piney-woods of Eastern Texas, in a 
heavy shower of rain, I approached a house, and 
dismountino^ rushed in for shelter. It was the abode 



170 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

of an aged widow lady, and though she bore the 
marks of time she possessed much of the vital force 
of life. Several private soldiers had already called 
in there, and as I entered the house one of them 
said, 'It seems to be raining to-day, parson.' The 
old woman threw her piercing eyes upon me, and 
said, 'You are a parson, are you?' 'I am no 
preacher to hurt, madam.' ' I do not thank a par- 
son to come into my house.' ' Madam, what have 
the parsons done to you, that you are so embittered 
against them?' 'Why, they have been the cause 
of all this war and bloodshed.' 'Madam, I shall 
have to attribute that w^himsical notion to your 
w^ant of information. I have been informed that 
all the men in this piney country vote for Gen. 
Jackson every four years, for President of the 
United States, not knowing that he is dead.' ' They 
have got as much sense as you 've got; you need n't 
think that you know every thing, because you are a 
parson.' ' Well, madam, have you got some tobacco 
3^ou could let me have? ' She ran to a sack, hang- 
ing on the side of the wall, and jerked out a twist 
of home-made, which she handed to me, saying, 
' There, now, take that! ' '!N"ow, madam, I am hun- 
gry and want dinner, and I want you to get a chick- 
en and cook it for me; you know Methodist preach- 
ers love chicken.' 'No I won't; but I will tell you 
where you can go and stay all night, and get as 
much chicken as you want. Go on this road about 
three miles, and you will come to a blacksmith-shop, 
and then turn down to the left and you will soon 
come to a house; tell them you are a parson, and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 171 

you will be all right, for they are long-faced Meth- 
odists.' 'Well, madam, the best of friends have to 
part. Madam, can you tell me when the stars fell?' 
'You are a nice fellow, pretending to be a parson, 
and don't know what year the stars fell; w^ell, that 
does beat me!' Taking hold of the shovel, she be- 
gan to punch the lire, saying, ' I guess I must warm 
np this parson.' ' Madam, you are very kind. The 
apostles were driven out, and not allowed to come 
into the houses, but you allow me shelter, and 
permit me to warm by your pleasant fire.' ' I 
would have you know you are not welcome, sir; 
but you can sit there awhile for all I care.' Then 
she said, 'Well, parson, you will preach about me 
when you leave here.' ' Ko, madam; I do not ex- 
pect to mention your name only when I am on my 
knees in prayer. I shall then ask the Lord to bless 
you in your declining years, and make your closing 
scenes as bright and placid as the splendid calm of 
the most brilliant day.' ' I do n't want your prayers; 
I don't thank you for your prayers.' 'I know 
you don't; but my Bible teaches me to pray for 
my enemies, and I think you are the worst one I 
have met. Well, now, you won't cook me a chick- 
en?' '^N'o, I won't; if you never get a chicken till I 
kill you one, you will go without one a long time.' 
I then began to sing: 

Your love to me has been most dear, 

Your conversation sweet ; 
How can I bear to journey where 

With you I cannot meet? 

"I then reached out my hand to tell her good-by; 



172 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

she instantly grasped it and began to weep, saying: 
'Parson, I must own up — I am whipped. I have 
done all I could to make you mad, but I have not 
seen the least sign of anger. If you ever pass this 
way again, call on me; you can preach in my house 
if you want to, and I will give you as much chick- 
en as you want.' 

'' I went on, and found the house as she had said. 
I told the family of my encounter with the old 
woman. They said that in many respects she was 
a clever woman, but she had some strange notions; 
she fed every private soldier that called on her, but 
never allowed an officer to eat at her table." 

"A soft answer turneth away wrath." Had Mr. 
Potter taken offense, and left that old lady's house 
showing that he was incensed, it would have 
strengthened her dislike for his class of ministers. 

When the regiment was encamped at Shelbyville, 
in Eastern Texas, an old soldier went to a house 
and borrowed a razor. The kind lady entertained 
very tender feeling for the self-sacriticing soldiers, 
and thinking that the old man just wanted a shave, 
and would return it immediately, readily lent 
him a razor, without even inquiring his name or 
making any conditions in the loan. The razor was 
a family relic, and much prized on that account, 
and after some time had elapsed the good lady be- 
came uneasy about the loss of this much-valued 
heir-loom, and called on the colonel to get him to 
recover it for her. The colonel told her that he 
had about six hundred men, and it would be like 
"hunting a needle in a hay-stack," as he had no 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 173 

name or clew to guide him in the search, hut he 
would be on the lookout for it, and if he found it he 
would have it returned to her. 

The colonel fiually thought of his friend, Mr. 
Potter, who was ever rich in plans to outwit the 
evil-doer, and he sent for him and narrated to him 
the razor story, and his promise to the clever lady, 
and requested him to keep a watchful eye after the 
lost relic, inquiring if he thought he could make 
any discover3\ Mr. Potter replied, "I will have it 
before night." " ]N"o you won't," said the colonel. 
*' I will have it before night," repeated Mr. Potter. 

Remembering to have seen a certain old man 
clean-shaved, Mr. Potter went to him and asked 
him to take a walk. They called the old man 
"Gravy." After getting away from the mess, Mr. 
Potter said to him, " 'Gravy,' that lady is distressed 
because you have not returned the razor; it is a 
family relic." The old man said he had kept it so 
long he hated to go back with it. Mr. Potter got 
the razor and returned it to the lady, to the great 
surprise of the good colonel. 

While at Shelbyville, the silly citizens would have 
dances in the country thereabouts, and the soldiei-s 
would go to them. At one time a band of them 
went to a dance, and being short of cooking-uten- 
sils they carried oft' some from the dance-house; 
but to avoid detection, they had changed their names. 
They had agreed to call the name of their leader 
*' Brown." The lady called on the colonel to re- 
cover her kitchen-wares. Her accusations were 
made as^ainst the name of Brown. The colonel 



174 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

said that he had several Browns in his regiment, 
and had them all called up and placed in line before 
her, but she said that neither of them was the guilty 
party. He then told her that he was at the end of 
his row — the deed had been done under a false 
name — and she returned as she came. Just at the 
time of moving from Shelbyville great rains fell, 
and made the roads quite muddy. Each mess tied 
up its cooking-utensils in a sack, and put them into 
the mess-w^agon, and it being heavily laden, mired 
down just opposite the dance-house from which the 
cooking-utensils had been taken, and about a half 
dozen women made a raid on the wagon in search 
of the stolen articles. They untied the sacks and 
took out each piece, then returned them and tied 
the sack up again, till coming to the one contain- 
ing their skillets, etc. " There!" one jubilant lady 
exclaimed; "see what bravery can do!" ]^o one 
disputed her right to renown. Mr. Potter was 
along, but had no interest in the mess-wagon, and 
feeling that a just Providence had revealed the 
guilty party, he had no objections to make either 
to the ladies' right of property or desert of valor. 

" The arm}' marched from place to place till it 
reached the town of Crockett, where I got a fur- 
lough to visit my home, but joined my command 
again just a few days before the ^break-up,' and 
then we were ordered to Houston. I learned at 
Houston that our brigade was held there after other 
commands were disbanded, to protect the merchants 
of the city against troops passing homeward from 
Galveston; it was feared they might break in upon 



Andreav Jackson Potter. 175 

their stores as tbey passed through. Our rations 
being poor, I went to those merchants and told 
them that our soldiers were there for their protec- 
tion, and I must ask them to supply us with several 
days' rations. I asked for supplies for two regi- 
ments, Woods's and Debray's. I asked for flour, 
bacon, coffee, sugar, and tobacco. I was told to 
call in the afternoon, when an answer would be 
given me. When I called, I was informed that I 
could get the provisions at Longcoat's establish- 
ment. The merchants had made the deposit there, 
and it was enough to supply the troops, and lasted 
them en route to their homes. I cannot close my 
account of our three years' campaign without ac- 
knowledging my obligations to the officers in whose 
commands I severally passed those toilsome periods; 
they were ever respectful and obliging to me as the 
minister of Jesus Christ, and cordially received me 
into their head-rpiarters when I approached them 
on business or otherwise. 

''After the address (herein recorded by Mr. Lee 
Rogan, of Lockhart), I told the soldiers that if it 
was convenient I would like to shake the farewell 
hand with every soldier in the regiments. That was 
enough; they arose and rushed forward in no or- 
derly manner, and Avith many tears and sobs \re 
took the parting hand." 

That truly was a breaking up. Two or three 
hundred brave men in tears while looking upon 
each other's faces and shaking the parting hand, as 
far as they knew, and no doubt truly so to many of 
them, for the last time in this world, indeed was a 



176 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

toucliiiig scene that would arrest the attention and 
melt the heart of an angel. For three years, day 
and night, they had shared their mutual toils and 
joys; together they had suffered; they had fought 
side by side in the death-storm of battle; together 
they had seen their fallen comrades, heard their dy- 
ing groans, and listened to the painful anguish of 
the wounded; in moments of rest they had passed 
their little moods of pleasantry in social interchange 
of camp-life amusements, and had often worshiped 
together, till truly they were as one great brother- 
hood; and now they must part, and worst of all, 
they must part with their beloved chaplain, who to 
them was more than a mere man, because he repre- 
sented to them One w^ho truly was greater than all 
men. The chaplain was the centralizing object in 
the army, as he represented the grand centralizing 
object in the great universe. In the person of a 
faithful chaplain all hearts unite; all their little 
likes and dislikes are lost in him — here they are 
one. Mr. Potter's moral power in that army was 
immeasurable; by his devotedness to duty he had 
lixed their faith in the unifying truth of Jesus. 
The}^ parted in his name, hoping to meet around 
the great white throne of Him whom their faithful 
chaplain visibly represented. May they meet him 
there! 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 177 



CHAPTER XXI. 

"When Mr. Potter made his farewell address to the 
troops at Houston, at their final discharge, a gen- 
tleman by the name of Rogan made extensive notes 
of the address, and while preparing this book, Mr. 
Potter wrote to him for a copy of the same; but Mr. 
Rogan having lost the original, he kindly repro- 
duced the main features of it from memory. 

Mr. Rogan was a companion with Mr. Potter in 
the army three years — the place of all others that 
tries the elements of character to the bottom. He 
was a lawyer, and a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, an intelligent Christian gentleman, who 
duly esteemed true merit anywhere. He was one 
of the few, like Col. Woods, who came out of that 
terrible fratricidal war with their religious charac- 
ter untarnished — a clean heart, and ^' hands un- 
stained with plunder." 

He is now an able lawyer at Lockhart, Texas, 
standing high in the deserved esteem of his fellow- 
citizens, and the writer is more than proud to have 
the indorsement of such a one to the high merits 
of the man whose real character he has striven to 
truthfully portray in these pages: 

Lockhart, Texas, May 7, 1881. 
Brother Potter: — Inclosed find my contribution to your book. 
I have done what I could. The writing has been done in my office, 
with frequent interruptions. I have no time to revise it. I am 

12 



178 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

not of late accustomed to write much else but legal documents, in 
which we do not pay much attention to style or punctuation. I 
have endeavored to follow your line of thought in your farewell ad- 
dress as near as I could recollect. With best wishes for your pres- 
ent and future welfare, I remain. 

Yours truly, Lee Kogan". 

Here follows Mr. Rogan's letter: 

In the early part of the year 1864, the Rev. A. J. Potter, a pri- 
vate in Col. Woods's regiment of Texas Cavalry, was appointed by 
Col. J. J. Myers Chaplain of the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Texas 
Cavalry, better known as "Debray's Regiment." Although the 
colonel was well acquainted with Mr. Potter, and knew his sterling 
qualities as a man, the new chaplain was an entire stranger to 
almost the whole regiment; but entering immediately on the dis- 
charge of his duties, his genial nature and high social qualities en- 
nabled him soon to make the acquaintance of every man regularly 
on duty in the entire command. Very soon after his appointment, 
the regiment, with other Texas troops, was ordered to Louisiana to 
meet the Federal army commanded by Gen. Banks. 

Mr. Potter accompanied the regiment in all of its marches, en- 
couraging the men in the discharge of their duties as soldiers, 
preaching to them as he had opportunity, and availing himself of 
any clerical aid that might come in his way — thus endeavoring to 
prepare his charge for any event that might await them in the dis- 
charge of their arduous and perilous duties. When actual fighting 
began at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, he worked faithfully with 
the ambulance corps carrying off the wounded and dying, always in 
the thickest of the tight looking up the brave men who lay pros- 
trate on the battle-field, victims of war's terrible havoc. So through 
the entire campaign, until the last battle at Yellow Bayou, he was 
constantly present, doing every thing that he could for the comfort 
of his men ; and doubtless many of the old regiment now gratefully 
cherish his memory for his many acts of kindness to them while 
sick or wounded; in fact, "Potter" is rather a "household word" 
with the "boys," and when they meet and begin to call up old 
memories, frequent inquiries are made after their old chaplain. 

One instance only is now remembered in which the chaplain laid 
aside the duties of his office and entered into the fight. At a battle 
fought below Alexandria, Louisiana, near Bayou Boeff", the enemy 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 179 

was crowding our men most too closely to suit his martial spirit, and 
leaving the wounded to be cared for by others, he seized a gun, 
mounted his horse, and rode to the front, ready to pull trigger with 
the foremost of the line; but the enemy was too strong, and he 
with the balance of the regiment was compelled to beat a reluctant 
retreat. 

After the campaign was over and the enemy retired, Mr. Potter ob- 
tained a furlough to visit his family in Bastrop County, Texas. While 
at home, he busied himself in collecting money and other supplies for 
the comfort of the men, and especially the sick. Keturning, he 
met the regiment in the vicinity of San Augustine, Texas, where 
it spent a part of the winter and early spring of 1865. While en- 
camped there the men suffered much from sickness, contracted 
principally in Louisiana. Mr. Potter was there, as ever, prompt 
in his attentions to the sick, looking for places for some of them 
among the citizens, and supplying them with such wholesome food 
at he could purchase. The spring of that year was very wet, and 
the march of the regiment from east of the Trinity River to the 
Brazos, where it was ordered, was almost a constant wading through 
mud and water, and the swimming of swollen streams, both rivers 
and creeks. Mr. Potter was always in the van, sharing equally with 
the men the toils and dangers of the march, always cheerful and 
brimful of good humor; the sight of his smiling countenance, the 
sound of his cheery laugh, and his encouraging words, materially 
aided the officers in preserving good order and discipline in the 
ranks. 

When it became evident, even to the rank and file of our branch 
of the army, that the long struggle was about ended, the war over, 
and we defeated, the regiment was ordered down to Houston, and 
stati(med on Brazos Bayou, near the city. 

In a few days rumors reached the camp that the troops in and 
immediately around the city were rapidly disbanding without or- 
ders, securing what supplies they could, and the men going home. 
This rumor was soon confirmed, and on May 22 it became pain- 
fully evident that the Twenty-sixth was just about to follow the 
example of others. The regiment was then commanded by Senior 
Captain John L. Lane, of Lockhart. There were rumors too of 
disaffection among the men, and of threats of personal violence to 
some of the officers. Under the circumstances Mr. Potter deemed 
it prudent to call the men together once more. Accordingly, after 



180 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

dark, with no lights but the twinkling stars and the camp-fires 
around, many of the men gathered about their chaplain, to hear his 
farewell words to them. Only a meager outline can now be given 
of his fervid and impassioned address. 

He commenced by reminding them of the cause in which they 
were engaged — that they had readily answered their country's call ; 
had left home and kindred, and staked their all on the uncertain 
issues of war; they had endured hardships as good soldiers; they 
had met the enemy with undaunted courage, and in every contest 
had shown themselves worthy the confidence their general had al- 
ways reposed in them. Throughout the entire war they had ever 
been noted for their cheerful obedience to orders, no matter how 
hard or disagreeable the duties assigned them ; and he now called 
upon them to show the same spirit of obedience to law and order, 
and remain in camp until honorably discharged from the service. 
He said it Avas true that during the years they had been together 
there had been many just causes of complaint, but these things did 
not now afford any sufhcient reason for violence or disorder. He 
had heard too that some of the men entertained feelings of personal 
hostility toward some of their officers, and now when occasion 
offered, they were disposed to avenge themselves by attacks upon 
their persons. If such was the case, if any in his audience enter- 
tained any such feelings, he implored them to banish all such 
thoughts and designs at once. This, he said, is no time to harbor 
malice or ill-will against any comrade, either officer or private ; the 
war is ended, no longer is the call to arms heard, arousing us from 
fitful slumbers disturbed with dreams of bloodshed and groans ot 
the dying. Together we have fought for a common cause — we have 
lost the battle, we have been defeated — but there is another cause 
which demands that we remain one in heart and purpose, and which 
requires unity of action; that is, the upbuilding of our country's for- 
tunes, and in and by the peaceful avocations of individual life secure 
that victory which we have now been unable to win. He reminded 
them that upon their return to their homes they would find many 
and great changes, and be called upon to face and endure many 
hardships and trials to which they had never before been subjected. 
Many, if not all of them, would find themselves deprived of nearly 
or quite all the property they had when they entered the service, 
and they would be dependent upon their own exertions for a liveli- 
hood. He exhorted them to go home with the determination to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 181 

take their places as good citizens, working harmoniously with their 
respective comnumities in re-establishing their broken fortunes. 
He said : " Many of you will find it hard, after four years' absence 
from your former pursuits, engaged in the active, stirring duties of 
soldier-life, to accustom yourselves to the duties which will devolve 
on you as citizens; but as you value your own peace and happi- 
ness, the welfare of those dear to you, and the prosperity of the 
whole country, you must put your shoulders to the wheels and push 
forward the car of progress with all the force and energy you can 
command. The past years have been years of trial, the present is 
dark, gloomy, and forbidding, but these things are to brave men no 
reason for despondency. This beautiful land is yet our own ; our 
homes have not been blackened by fires kindled by the invader's 
torch; behind the clouds of adversity shines the sun of prosperity, 
and if you will faithfully and honestly discharge your duties, obey- 
ing the laws of the land, however hard and oppressive they may be, 
the great Father of all in his own good time will cause the clouds 
to disappear, and bid the sun to shine upon you. But above all I 
would remind you of your duties to Him who sits upon the throne 
of the universe, and controls and directs all things according to his 
own will. You cannot eliminate God and your duty to hira from 
your plans and purposes, with any hope of permanent success. I 
therefore beg of you to first give attention to your religious duties, 
knowing that He has said: 'Seek first the kingdom of God, and all 
these things shall be added unto you.'" In conclusion, he said: 
" I say to you again, your duties as soldiers are about ended ; your 
camp-fires will now go out, never again to be lighted; the bugle 
will cease to sound the reveille, and the roll-call will be heard no 
more; your companies will be disbanded, and the men who com- 
pose this regiment will be scattered to all parts of the State. Many 
of us, yea, the most of us, will meet no more until the last grand 
bugle sound shall awake and summon us to meet before the great 
white throne, to give an account of the deeds done in the body. As 
your chaplain, speaking to you for the last time, I again affection- 
ately urge you to prepare at once for the last call which shall come to 
you, and at an hour when it is not expected. Live right, that you 
may die right. The life of a wicked man is not likely to end with 
cheering prospects of a happy and blissful hereafter. Live so that 
when the Master comes and calls for you, you may be ready to an- 
swer: 'Here, Lord, am I.' For you my prayers shall ascend to 



182 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

heaven. God speed you in all laudable works in which you may 
hereafter be engaged, and may He aid you in repairing and build- 
ing up your fallen fortunes, and in promoting the welfare of our 
common country." 

The regiment remained quietly in camp until the next morning, 
when the last roll-call was made, and the officers ordered to pre- 
pare discharges for their men ; and during that day. May 22, ] 865, 
all of the Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry who were present, and those 
who were known to be absent, were honorably discharged from the 
army of the Confederate States, having remained true to their col- 
ors to the last roll-call. Lee Eogan. 

We truly prize the strong testimony of a man of 
such rank as Mr. Eogan as to the high estimate 
placed on the character we have undertaken to de- 
lineate. One prominent trait holdly cropping out 
in the results of that last wise, patriotic address, 
made to the remains of a regiment of brave men, 
when all the disappointment and gloom of defeat 
was upon them, is his strange and wonderful power 
over men, even on the verge of panic and in the 
tumult of revolt. When other regiments had rudely 
disbanded, and were en route to their long-neglected 
homes and dear ones, he holds the command a day 
and night in subjection to military orders which 
truly had no longer authority over them, for the 
war was over. He also quells their intentions of 
violence against those they regarded as their op- 
pressors when under their authority, and quiets all 
purposes of trespass on private property to aid in 
replenishing their wasted fortunes. In the last days 
of disaster to their country's cause, he greatly helped 
the officers in keeping discipline in the army. Re- 
ligion and patriotism bloom in the close of that ad- 
dress. Mature and grace made him great. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 183 

"After the 'break-up' at Houston, I returned 
home with a company of men who lived at Lock- 
hart, among whom was the Hon. L. J. Story, now 
Lieutenant-governor of the State of Texas. Soon 
after my return, my mother-in-law, Mrs. Dorcas 
Gwinn, who had lived with us ten years, passed to 
her reward in the triumphs of a glorious faith. She 
was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, 
and a true '■ mother in Israel.' The Presbyterian 
Church in Lockhart, being without a pastor, in- 
vited me to occupy their pulpit, which I did very 
pleasantly for some time. In a certain community 
in Bastrop County the good people appointed a 
union-meeting, and invited ministers of different 
denominations to come and assist in it. They said 
that the people were giving dancing-parties in wel- 
coming the soldiers home, but they wanted to greet 
them with a protracted-meeting. I attended at the 
time, and found myself almost without ministerial 
help. I carried on the meeting ten days, which 
ended in a great revival, and many were converted. 
A confirmed infidel lived in the community, a 
sporting character, and very fond of horse-racing. 
He was one of my old ' chums ' in the days of my 
vanity. He attended the meeting, and listened to 
my preaching several days with marked attention. 
One day he approached me, and said, 'Potter, I do 
not believe in your religion, but I believe you do; I 
believe you are in earnest, and honest in your be- 
lief — you will please send over and get a cow and 
calf from my ranch.' I gratefully accepted his 
kind otier, and got the cow. 



184 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

"There was living some three miles from me a 
man who had been a widower several years, and 
had reared his children in great ignorance — and 
some of them were grown. He had lately married 
a 'school-marm,' an 'old maid.' He was an un- 
feeling man, and a terrible tyrant to his family. One 
day I saw one of his sons coming in great haste. 
He called for me, and said that his ma w^anted me 
to come over and preach his pa's funeral. I in- 
quired, 'Is your pa dead?' 'No,' said he, 'but he 
is bad off.' I saddled my horse, and rode over and 
found him still living, but writhing on his bed in 
great agony, saying, ' My heart will break ! my heart 
will break!' I supposed there had been a family 
trouble, and took the old lady aside, and inquired 
the cause of his great mental distress. She said 
that hearts were not so easily broken, or hers would 
have been broken; that since their marriage he 
had been cruel to her, and that on the past night 
he had taken an ax and ran her and his daughter 
from the place, and that his conscience had got to 
hurting him, and he had sent a messenger after her 
to return, saying that he would die if she did not, 
and that through mere pity she had come back. I 
stepped back into the room, and he w^as still cry- 
ing, 'My heart will break! my heart will break!' 
'Amen! God grant it!' I said. 'You have got a 
wicked heart, and I hope the Lord w^ill burst it 
all to pieces and give you a better one.' '0 par- 
son,' he said, 'pray for me!' 'I will do so with 
all the agony of my soul, sir, for I do not know 
a man that needs prayer any more than you do; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 185 

you have all the attributes of a dog except kind- 
ness.' So I read the Bible, and prayed with him. 
He promised to be a better man in the future, and 
attend church, which he did. I do not know that 
he ever embraced religion, but he w^as ever after 
a changed man." 



186 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

!N'oT a great while after Mr. Potter got home from 
the war he was invited to go clown on Walnut 
Creek, some twelve miles from his residence, to 
preach to the people of that community. The mes- 
senger informed him that a party of armed men 
down there had given the circuit-preacher the lie in 
the pulpit, and had cursed him, so that the preach- 
er had closed his sermon and left, saying that was 
the last sermon he would ever preach in that house. 
Mr. Potter sent an appointment, and went down 
at the time and found the citizens there at the 
preaching-hour. He entered the pulpit, and seeing 
the armed party there, he told them that he had 
heard there was some fighting-stock down there 
that wanted to fight preachers, and that he had 
come down to fight or preach, or, if need be, to do 
both. But he wanted a clear understanding and 
good order in the whole affair. He proposed that 
all sit still and be quiet till he preached a sermon, 
as some of the people had come to hear preaching, 
and after the sermon was over, if nothing but a 
fight would do, he would be ready for fighting, in 
the house or out-of-doors, as any of them might 
choose. He then proceeded to read, and sing, and 
pray, and preach, no one disturbing him in the least, 
and perfect good order reigning throughout the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 187 

entire service. When the worship was over, Mr. 
Potter said to them : " ISTow, after dismission, if any 
one wants to fight, I shall be ready, and we will 
have it in the house or outside; or we will adjourn 
to dinner, and let the fight come off in the evening." 
Mr. Potter was acquainted with the leader of the 
fighters. After the benediction the leader smilingly 
approached the preacher, and Mr. Potter said, 
*' Jim, do you want to fight?" "^o, sir; I do not 
want to fight you; I want you to go with me to 
dinner." He went, and so it ended. 

The nature, name, and character, of the man, 
and his unique manner, give him a strange and 
wonderful power over men. Many are the spheres 
and varied are the relations of men, and they are 
constituted and born with temperaments and capac- 
ities suited to each. Some are born to command, 
while others are constituted to obey. Some are en- 
dowed with a ruling genius, and others are possessed 
of a disposition to submit to authority. A few are 
made to rule in times of anarchy and terror; to quell 
the disorderly tempers and raging passions of the 
reckless multitude, when reason is dethroned, and 
blind, maddened impulse leads to ruin, as when the 
steam of high-pressure, without a conductor, drives 
the train into the awful vortex. A wise conductor 
cools and shuts ofi:' the steam, and checks up the 
dangerous speed. Mr. Potter was born to manage 
men — to control them in the absence of reason, by 
calming and silencing passion, and escorting reason 
to her rightful throne — born to quiet the most 
fearful storms of enraged tumults, as Jesus stilled 



188 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the tempest-wiiicls and quieted the mad, leaping 
waves of the blue Galilee, by whispering peace to 
the storm-riven sea. In his nature there is the 
strange occult magnet, to quell and charm into qui- 
etude the antithetic elements of contentious men, 
even when passion's storms rage to their highest 
fury. His manner too inspires a quietus in the 
senseless effervescence of angry tempers, and his 
words gently command the tempest to cease its 
rage. Firm and decisive, yet cool as a general in 
the storm of battle, he displays no wrathful feeling. 
His pugnacity is not the outflow of temper, but the 
zeal of reason. He makes no threats, but talks of 
chastising erring men as calmly as if he were going 
to eat his quiet meal. His name is a prophylactic 
against the sins of bad men. 

In the fall of 1865 Mr. Potter sold out his home 
on the head of Walnut Creek, and bought a farm 
on Seal's Creek, three miles east of Prairie Lee. 
At the session of the West Texas Conference for 
that year, Mr. Asbury Davidson, Presiding Elder 
of the Gonzales District, had Mr. Potter appointed 
as a supply on the Prairie Lee Circuit for the year 
1866. The country being so impoverished by the 
late war, the Conference cut up the circuits into 
small, convenient territories, contiguous to each 
preacher's home, so that he might raise a crop, or 
do something else to aid the Church in the support 
of his famil}^; and Mr. Potter was assigned to two 
appointments, about eight miles apart — Prairie Lee 
and West Fork, on Plum Creek, now Harrison's 
Chapel. He did a hard year's work on his farm 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 189 

and for the Church that Conference-year, and his 
labors were greatly blessed in building up the 
Church, and in reestablishing good order in society 
so soon after the demoralizing effects of the war, 
which to some extent had inaugurated a spirit of 
disorder in most all communities. He also greatly 
mitigated the sectarian feeling, which had no little 
power in some orders of Christians. All the de- 
nominations in that region gladly attended his min- 
istry, and were greatly profited. He also preached 
to the colored people, and had a' good time among 
them, and even to this day those of them still liv- 
ing love and prize his ministry. In all departments 
the Church in his field that year was truly blessed, 
and it is now an oasis to him in memories of the 
pleasant past, as the first year in his long itinerant 
career. Here again we copy an incident of that 
year from his manuscript: 

" There being no church-building in Prairie Lee, 
all denominations preached in an old academy 
building, but the Methodists and Missionary Bap- 
tists were the only organizations there. The Rev. 
Mr. Powel was the pastor of the Baptist Church, 
but he was ' an old land-marker,' and a sectarian in 
the strictest sense. He would not worship with 
other denominations under any circumstances. I 
was on good terms with the Baptists of the com- 
munity, and they came to hear me preach. Mr. 
Powel appointed a meeting there, to be protracted, 
and promised the people to furnish ministerial help 
to carry on the meeting several days, but when the 
time arrived, he came alone, and was sick. The 



190 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

people had made large preparations, and were mncli 
disappointed, and a number of the leading mem- 
bers of the Church went to him, and said: 'We 
know. Brother Powel, that it is'against your rules 
to worship with ministers of other denominations, 
but we have been at the trouble of preparing for 
this meeting, and as you have no help now, just 
call in Mr. Potter, and let the meeting go on; we 
all like him, and go to hear him preach anyhow 
when you are not here.' He replied: 'When I am 
about my Master's work, I always tell his sort to 
stand aside.' The meeting closed Sunday night. I 
attended the meeting. Mr. Powel administered the 
sacrament on Sunday, and poured hot shot into the 
unimmersed and baby-sprinklers. When the serv- 
ices closed at night, I announced that I would begin 
a protracted-meeting there at a certain time, and 
invited ministers of all denominations to assist me, 
whether sprinkled, poured, or immersed. The good 
Baptists approved the deserved retort, and when 
his pastoral term ended they made another call." 

In the fall of 1866 Mr. Potter was received into 
the West Texas Conference, at its session at Seguin, 
and it was the first Annual Conference he ever at- 
tended. The lamented Bishop Marvin presided. 
Mr. Potter was returned to the Prairie Lee Circuit, 
under the Rev. Willie Fly, presiding elder. His 
manuscripts show that he enlarged his circuit that 
year down on Plum Creek, Mars' Hill, and Atlanta, 
at which places he had gracious revivals, and largely 
built up the Church. 

In the spring of 1867 Mr. Potter was asked to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 191 

take a lot of horses to Eastern Texas, for a lady 
near Prairie Lee, an account of which we now tran- 
scribe: 

"Mrs. Cartwright, an estimable lady, was com- 
pelled to raise a certain amount of money at a cer- 
tain time, to meet a pressing demand. She had a 
lot of horses and mules, but failing to find some one 
to take them East and sell them for her, she applied 
to me, urging me to go for her, as she was not will- 
ing to risk every one. I made arrangements to have 
my appointments filled during my absence, as the 
Conference had instructed the preachers that year 
to do something to aid the Church in their support. 
She suggested that I should go first to Leon County, 
in Eastern Texas, where she had some relations liv- 
ing, wiio would assist me in selling the stock; but 
on reaching Leon County I found that there was no 
demand for stock of that kind, and made no sales. 
I remained several days at Centreville, where I found 
a number of my old soldier-mates, and preached to 
them several times. Here I met the Rev. Dr. Cow- 
art in the Masonic lodge. He was preaching with 
great acceptability, and doing a large practice. He 
is now living at Centre Point, Kerr County, Texas, 
still laboring in the vineyard of the Lord as a local 
preacher, but the gray hairs and corrugated features 
tell how time has been marking off the passing 
years since I met him fifteen years ago. 

" While at Centreville I saw a man looking around 
my horses. He was a stranger there. He had a 
six-shooter belted around him, and there was some- 
thing about the man that attracted my attention. 



192 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Finding no demand, I moved my stock down to 
Iluntsville. The young man who was employed to 
help me drive the stock left me, and I hired a ne- 
gro. On reaching Huntsville I found ready sale, 
and sold out rapidly. While holding a few head 
which I had on hand on the public square, I saw 
the same strange young man looking around ray 
stock, and talking privately to the negro. Think- 
ing I could sell the few unsold stock on my way 
home, I concluded to start back in the direction of 
Navasoto, and, traveling about fourteen miles that 
afternoon, camped for the night. I had sold all but 
my saddle-horse and one unbroken pony. About 
twilight that strange young man rode up to my 
camp, and said, ' Sir, I am traveling, and it is a 
pleasant night — if you have no objections I will 
camp with you.' Believing that it was his inten- 
tion to rob me of my money, I decided at once to take 
him in. 'Certainly,' said I; 'light, sir.' As he dis- 
mounted, I said, ' Sir, I see that you have a six- 
shooter, and as you are a stranger, and I have a few 
dollars, I w^ill take care of it for you to-night.' This 
was a stunner. 'Hand it over,' I said, in somewhat 
a positive tone. Being armed with a revolver my- 
self, the stranger thought it best to obey, and, un- 
buckling his belt, handed it over to me. ' Now, sir,' 
I said, ' you can unsaddle, and stake or hobble your 
pony.' The negro soon had supper, but the stran- 
ger did not seem to have a good appetite. I tried 
every way to call him out in conversation, as to 
where he lived and where he was going, but he left 
every thing about himself as dark as mud. He said 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 193 

he was tired, and would lie down. I told him if he 
should have occasion to get up in the night, he had 
better let me know by calling me. lie said he could 
see no reason why he should be taken prisoner be- 
cause he had seen fit to camp with me. I told him 
to be quiet, that my reasons would be given to him 
at the proper time. My guest did not rest well, but 
did not get up. Of course I did not sleep a wink 
that night. I thought perhaps he had made a plot 
with the negro to murder me that night, and get the 
money they knew I had. The weary hours of the 
night at last passed away, and the welcome twilight 
of the morning came. I gave my guest his break- 
fast, and told him to saddle his horse, and when he 
was ready to start I cocked my revolver and handed 
him his, saying: 'Now, sir, here is your pistol, and 
we will cut our acquaintance right here. You must 
be careful not to meet me on my way any more. 
]S^ow, sir, I saw you looking around my stock at 
Centre ville, and also yesterday at Huntsville, and 
you followed me out here last evening, and 1 can 
place no other construction on your conduct than 
that you intended to rob me of my money, and per- 
haps murder me, but I have outwitted you. ]N'ow, 
sir, you must not meet me any more; now be off,' 
and he rode away, and we have not met to this day. 
I then turned to the negro, and said: 'Now, sir, we 
will take a divorce right here. Here is the amount 
of your wages — there is the road; take either end 
of it.' About that time some ox-wagons came along, 
and I tied my led-pony behind one of them, and 
traveled alonoj with them to Navasoto. I reached 

18 



194 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

home safely, and delivered the money to the lady, 
who rewarded me liberally." 

We cannot resist the conviction that in this case 
Mr. Potter just escaped the snare of that bandit. 
At that time many were in Texas, and it is more 
than probable that there was an understanding be- 
tween the robber and the negro. But Mr. Potter's 
cool sagacity thwarted their designs, lie was com- 
pelled to take in the brigand, or break up his camp 
and go to a house, or take tbe pending results. 
Cautious prudence saved him. 

"After my return from Eastern Texas, I again 
entered on the work on my circuit. I was preach- 
ing one day at West Fork, the pulpit being on one 
side of the door; on looking out at my left, I could 
see what was going on in the yard, and during my 
discourse I saw a young man dancing. I said : ' My 
friends, I think I must be improving; I must be do- 
ing better to-day than common. I have noticed at 
different times my preaching has produced revival 
effects upon my hearers; I have known them to get 
angry also; and, too, I have seen them laugh and 
cry, and get happy and shout, but 1 do not remem- 
ber that I ever got them to dancing; but now there 
is a young man dancing out-doors, and he seems to 
hold up well and keep pretty good time.' A youth 
stepped out and informed him that I had called at- 
tention to his conduct, and he got into a hurry, and 
did not wait for the benediction, but mounted and 
rode away. 

" My presiding elder. Brother Willie Fly, was of 
great help to me this year — a noble, good, and use- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 195 

fill man. He has been in local life a number of 
years, owing to bodily afflictions, but in that sphere 
he is doing useful labors in the Church. He now 
lives near Gonzales, but when I traveled the Uvalde 
Circuit he lived there, and I shared largely in his 
hospitalities and counsels, which he cheerfully be- 
stows, when asked at his hands, by kindred, friends, 
or strangers. He has greatly aided in building up 
the Church at Gonzales in the last decade. The 
Church of his choice now worships in a splendid 
new brick building, his influence doing no little in 
getting it up. 

" I closed my labors on Prairie Lee Circuit in the 
fall of 1867, with as good feeling as ever existed 
between pastor and flock. A kind and generous 
people. May we meet 'over there.' " 



196 Andreav Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

A NOTED man of color, whose title was Doctor Parker, 
"\vas lecturing to the colored people in Caldwell 
County, Texas, on their duty and best interest in 
the habit of cultivating friendly relations with the 
w^hite race, and of continuing in the South, where 
they could get better wages than at the North. 

Doctor Parker was a man of some culture, and 
was a fluent speaker and of good moral character. 
Mr. Potter was one of a number who invited him to 
address the colored people in the little town of Prai- 
rie Lee. On the day appointed a large crowd of 
white and colored people assembled at the church 
to hear the sable orator. The colored audience lilled 
the house, save Mr. Potter and a few others who got 
seats inside, while many white men were out-doors. 
That which is great naturally is more admired by 
mankind than that which is made so by art. A man 
of great talents unacquired from books and schools 
excites the curious admiration of men more than 
one of greater abilities derived more directly from 
learning and the polish of literature; and the gifts 
and the oratory of a man from a humble sphere is 
more esteemed than those of one from scenes of a 
higher life. The novelty of an African making a 
political speech just after the close of the war which 
had so lately unmanacled millions of slaves, created 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 197 

no little interest. A few, no doubt, were deeply 
steeped in the deep-rooted, prejudice that no good 
could come out of Africa, and may have been a 
little nettled at the idea that her sable son should 
have the temerity to make a political speech; but 
such was not the opinion of the wiser and better 
element of Texan society. Their surrender of arms 
in the late war was in good faith — to give all grades, 
races, and colors, equal civil and political rights 
under the Federal and State constitutions — and that 
intelligent and order-loving element in Texan soci- 
ety readily assumed a friendly attitude toward the 
late freed population, regarding it as an imperative 
duty enjoined by Christian morals, and interest as 
well, to aid that people to rise to the status of good 
citizenship. As they must constitute a factor in so- 
ciety, interest demands that they be bettered in their 
physical, moral, and intellectual conditions, or soci- 
ety must reap the evil contagion arising from con- 
tiguity. Mr. Potter has ever entertained that sober 
and wise view of duty in regard to the colored man. 
But there were men in the house that day who, 
perhaps, had different view^s, and made efforts to 
disturb the speaker. Mr. Potter, even in his wild 
days, was a friend of order in public gatherings; he 
had been schooled in the habit of order in the rigid 
soldier-drill; and, too, he had invited the speaker 
there, and felt an obligation to see that he was not 
interrupted; and, besides, he wished to hear the 
speaker through, and he therefore politely asked 
the gentlemen to be silent. But they continued 
their annoyance, when Mr. Potter informed them 



198 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

that if tbej did not desist be should put them out 
of the house. One of. them sternly asked if he 
could manage two of them. Mr. Potter replied 
that he should surely try it if the noise did not stop. 
They then remained quiet until the address was 
ended, when one of them made directly for Mr. 
Potter, being closely followed by the other; but just 
as the first man aimed to strike a furious blow, Mr. 
Potter felled him to the floor. The second man 
was caught in his eltbrt to strike by the citizens, 
and both of them were rushed out-doors, and di- 
rected to their horses, and made to mount and leave 
in quick time. But just then a real laughable sight 
came to light. Many of the poor colored people 
were frightened at the knock-dow^n, and leaped out 
of the window^s, and ran in wild dismay to their 
horses. One of them tied his pony with a long 
rope, in order that he might graze, but, being so 
alarmed out of his wits, he mounted without un- 
loosing his rope, and put spurs to the animal, which 
soon reached the end of the cable, and rebounded, 
only to make another unavailing effort to get away. 
The frightened negro did not for some time think 
of the rope. 

All laws of politeness and decorum must com- 
mend Mr. Potter for calling for silence on that oc- 
casion, and self-defense prompted the quick act of 
protecting himself against the ready blow of his 
antagonist; and pietists who think that religious 
ministerial duties oblisre a minister to stand still and 
allow a ruffian to pounce upon him and beat him 
into a mangle may find but few practical adherents 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 199 

in any age or clime. If that be an essential element 
in moral action, it has been but seldom observed in 
any state of refinement. The morality of Jesus is 
certainly the jpure^ the true. His literal saying, if 
smitten on one cheek to turn the other, surely can- 
not apply where one's person is attacked in a man- 
ner involving life and limb, unless it be in the case 
of religious persecution. 

Before closing this chapter, we desire to call the 
attention of the careful reader to a few more reflec- 
tions on the important subject alluded to in its be- 
ginning — the status of the American negro in our 
common country. It is a great and unsettled ques- 
tion in its final issues. It once rent the union of 
Churches, disturbed the peace of the Republic, cost 
its billions, buried millions of her citizens, and en- 
tailed poverty and toil on one-third of her vast 
domain. But the negro's rightful sphere in the scale 
of humanity is still a debatable question — with some 
it is not. Five millions of colored freemen are 
now legal citizens of our grand commonwealth, and 
what is to be their ultimate status here is a na- 
tional question. Some have allotted Afric's sable 
son to the order of beasts, because he is crowned 
with wool and robed with an ebon skin. But they 
are few, and their reasons are of chaiFy material. 
Neither hybrid Mexican, the red man of the woods, 
the black Jew of Malabar, nor the copper-colored 
Mongolian, is assigned to the beastly grade for his 
quality of hair or color of skin. Science and the 
Bible station him as a member of the family of 
man. God made of one blood all nations to dwell 



200 Andreav Jacksox Potter. 

on the earth. Admit him, humanity; he is our col- 
ored brother, entitled to the rights of humanity. 
But his grade on the homo scale is still not fixed. 
Whether it be a low, a medium, or a high one, is not 
the question we want to impress on the reader now; 
but it is the duties which a Christianized humanity 
enjoins on the Government and the Church toward 
our unfortunate colored brother. Books have been 
written, and journals published, vindicating the right 
of slavery per se, but they are entombed till the last 
day. The ruling sentiment of the wise and good 
in our sunny land now is that it was a great national 
evil. It was made legal, and slaves styled propert}^, 
by congressional action. But now the grand work 
of freedom is settled, and our intelligent citizens are 
glad that the dark incubus is washed from the skirts 
of our nation forever; and they now have entered 
on a new mode of life, and hail all means promising 
an improvement of the colored race with approval. 
How high he may be raised from the ashes and rags 
of ages is not our theme just here; but that he is 
being lifted up is a certainty, and that it is our duty 
to aid him in his efforts to shake off the degradation 
of ages is equally certain — duty of the North, duty 
of the South, but specially of the South. Our North- 
ern forefathers entailed the bondage of our colored 
brother on the willing, avaricious South; the North 
got the price of their sable brother's market- value, 
and the South grew rich from his unpaid toils. He 
cleared her heavy-timbered forests, tilled her fields, 
gathered in her annual harvests, sawed much of the 
lumber and made most of the brick which built up 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 201 

her palaces, her towns, and her great cities; and now 
she may not murmur if taxed to help him get up 
from his low estate — her virtuous wisdom does not. 
He already shows some w^onderful advances in learn- 
ing and good citizenship — where the chances have 
been favorable. They have churches and schools, 
and other moral and benevolent institutions, among 
themselves, promising good to the incoming gene- 
rations; but their present means of education and 
other facilities for improvement are too meager to 
lead to a hope of extensive progress in the near 
future. Where they live in small lots here and there 
among the whites they have no schools, and little 
or no advance is yet made; but in cities and colonies 
they have schools of their own, and a marked growth 
in intelligence, virtue, industry, and enterprise, is 
the visible result. It is now evident that coloniza- 
tion in large settlements, where they can have schools 
for their own color, is the surest method of a speedy 
elevation of the race — not that it is best to isolate 
him from the white man, but let him be in com- 
mercial contiguity with the trading thrift of his 
white brother. In large colonies they can maintain 
their schools; in small settlements they cannot, and 
in dense associations motives of emulation lead them 
to efforts to follow their advanced leaders. Let us 
plant the ladder of progress before our brother in 
the sable attire, and invite him to ascend. Let no 
low motives of envy and jealousy guide us in our 
treatment of him whom we have helped to place in 
his present humble condition. Mr. Potter never 
owned a slave, nor was he associated with the col- 



202 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

ored man until he came to Texas; but a sense of 
just and equal rights among men grew up with him 
from the cradle; and when he called for order when 
that colored man w^as making that speech in the 
little village of Prairie Lee, it was the outcry of long- 
fixed principles of equal rights in all grades of so- 
ciety where innocence and virtue rule — that is, where 
guilt does not abrogate the right. Reader, adopt 
Mr. Potter's motto on that day — " Let Africa have 
a fair chance." N'ot only grant the privilege, but 
help her son to rise. We must approach this subject 
divested of all prejudices arising from questions of 
race, color, or nationality. View it in the lens of a 
civilization which receives its rays from that Christ- 
like, world-wide benevolence, which Christianity 
clearly inculcates. If he can be so lifted up from 
the dust of vassalage, like the Jews, to dispute, on 
the grounds of peaceful merit, the crown of supe- 
riority with the tribes of men, let it be so. In that 
case his elevation may not be our downfall. 

The writer of this volume, in the years of his 
youth long gone by, was a missionary to the colored 
people on the Tennessee River, in Colbert's Reserve. 
It is now the brighest scene in his ministerial life. 
He has preached to them, more or less, for forty 
years, and has had favorable opportunities to form 
an estimate of the best traits in African character. 
We can only judge of the natural; their moral and 
intellectual ideas, being the result of long-inherited 
eflects of their degraded condition, do not afford a 
safe base from which to reason. But their fondness 
and adaptability for music and dancing is natural; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 203 

it is so with them in their native land. A colored 
man can tambourine an old Virginia jig with his 
stitch-down shoes, and make sweet music with his 
old gourd fiddle. As vocalists they can excel all 
nations, though untrained. When educated and 
trained in the arts of instrumental and vocal music, 
thej shall astound the world, and arrest the attention 
of the celestial orchestra. We venture here the pre- 
diction that Beethovens, Haydns, and Jenny Linds, 
of ebon hue, in the events of centuries, shall minister 
the sweet anthems of music in the citadels of re- 
nown, and in all the great capitals of the globe. In 
music they must stand on civilization's grand plat- 
form, and chant the praises of Him who died to save. 
Let the Church assume a friendly and a helping atti- 
tude toward Africa's alien children, alien from the 
home of their forefathers. Her mission-field is the 
world. Preach the gospel to every creature, is the 
Divine Master's command. The poor are special sub- 
jects of gospel grace. See that ye be mindful of the 
poor. " God hath chosen the poor of this world rich 
in faith and heirs of the kingdom." Our poor jet- 
painted brother has not imbibed any theories of an 
atheistic philosophy. He readily accepts the gospel 
truth. The arduous work is to teach him Christian 
morals, and lift him upon the plane of their holy 
demands in all spheres of life. They have many 
examples of true piety. 



204 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

In the fall of 1867 the Conference met again at Se- 
guin, Bishop McTyeire presiding. At this Confer- 
ence Mr. Potter, by request, was sent to the mount- 
ain frontier, and was stationed on the Kerrville Cir- 
cuit, on which the writer now travels. On entering 
the Conference, he felt a special call to go into the 
frontier field, and requested that he be sent there. 
After Conference had closed, he returned to his 
home, near Prairie Lee, to make arrangements to 
begin a work for which a wise and gracious Provi- 
dence has been schooling him more than half a life- 
time, a work which is to engage the prime of his 
matured manhood, and a work which is to issue in 
renovating the border world and establishing a vast 
spiritual empire in the valleys of the mountains. 
We see him all equipped for his new and dangerous 
field. Bidding wife and babes adieu, amid a shower 
of tears, he mounts his noble steed, saddle-bags 
packed, and a carnal weapon belted to his side, and 
grace in his heart; he rides away toward the field 
of his future struggles and triumphs, which lies 
more than a hundred miles deep into the mountains, 
where the savage Indian and the stealthy robber 
nightly roam. Away, away from home and loved 
ones he is to spend a toilsome year full of the great- 
est hazards, but none of these things move him; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 205 

onward he rides over rocky heights, and rugged de- 
clines, and level vales, where the chilling northers 
pour out their freezing hreath, for it is in Decem- 
her's bleak and dreary reign. But on, on he rides, 
till more than a hundred miles of mountain crags 
intervene between him and his home in the vale, 
where dear ones feel his absence. Now he has 
crossed the Indians' trail, and is within their wild 
domain. ]N'ow he can hear their startling war-cry. 
But these things move him not from his purpose; 
he has heard that savage yell in other d-djs, and 
now he comes to silence its alarming echoes along 
these crags and vales, and raise up high into these 
overhanging skies the peaceful victor's shouts of joy. 
He enters on his work, which then included Ban- 
dera and Curry's Creek, quite a territory, but only 
a few settlers compared with what it is now; only 
a few old settlers have died, and many others have 
moved in since that day. Among the stanch mem- 
bers who were in the Guadalupe Valley, were the 
Reeses, Lowrance, I^ichols, Manning, and Powel, 
and William Pofford, local preacher, who is still a 
faithful and good man. The Moores and the Bur- 
neys were also among the citizens of the county, 
and friends of the Church. Mr. Potter had good 
meetings that year; the Rev. W. T. Thornberry 
being his presiding elder greatly helped him. Mr. 
Thornberry is a man of great zeal and Of wide-spread 
popularity. This year the foundation was laid for 
the present Church constituting the present Kerr- 
ville Circuit, of more than one hundred members. 
It now has three other able and efficient local preach- 



206 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

ers — the Revs. John Gass, Elijah Witt, and J. Jay 
Cawart — and also a parsonage for the pastor's home. 
Henry Tatum also was a faithful, good man, but he 
and his pious wife have joined the holy ranks of 
friends and kindred dear. Sister Burney, Joshua 
Brown, and Sister Maggie Vaughan, have also 
crossed " over there " to their eternal rewards. Unto 
the end they were faithful, and now the crown of 
life is theirs. The previous year the Church here 
had no pastor, and was almost disorganized when 
Mr. Potter went to it, but it came up with banners 
nnfurled that year. He reconstructed the Societies, 
and reported an increase of about ninety members 
at the close of the year. 

The Indians were very troublesome at that time, 
in all parts of his circuit. No one could keep more 
horses than he used, and he had to lock them up 
at night, or tie them near the cabin door. One 
night two Indians walked through Mr. Potter's 
corn-field and took his neighbor's horse which was 
tied close to his house. Only a cross fence divided 
the two fields, and the wild men took out a panel 
of the dividing fence, and both mounted the horse 
and rode away, taking a mess of roasting-ears from 
Mr. Potter's corn-field. Mr. Potter's horses were 
under lock. ]^ex*t morning their tracks revealed 
the thieves, and showed . the place where they 
mounted the horse. Indeed, it was not safe for a 
man to travel alone, or work far from his house, for 
now and then they would kill and scalp a lone man, 
and they sometimes made a raid on a cabin and 
murdered the inmates, but most of their killing wae 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 207 

done when they came upon a person out after stock, 
or traveling. It is said that the savage Indian would 
seldom enter a white man's house, or venture into 
a thicket. They would walk round the house at 
night, when the inmates were sleeping, leaving the 
print of their moccasins on the sand or soft dirt 
where they might tread. It is thought that they 
marauded after a general conference, for they made 
simultaneous inroads all along the extended horder. 
At one time, while Mr. Potter was on the Kerrville 
Circuit, nearly all the horses not secured were taken 
at about the same time. He and a band of men 
followed them the next morning, but the cunning 
raiders traveled on the honey-comb rocks after get- 
ting on the mountains, and it was impossible to 
trail them. 

This year Mr. Potter got a dangerous horse — a 
good work-horse, but he had been spoiled as a rid- 
ing-horse. He was not aware of that fact, and 
while on a visit to his home he got on his new 
horse, thinking him entirely gentle, but he soon 
learned his mistake. The spoiled horse began to 
pitch, and though he was a splendid rider, the horse 
got the advantage of him some way, and threw him, 
damaging one of his hips; and he lay in bed several 
weeks, and went on crutches several months. He 
then got into his ambulance, and made his little son 
drive him to his circuit, and he preached on his 
crutches for several weeks. The fall disabled some 
of the ligaments of his hip, and shortened his left- 
leg a little, and now there is. a slight limp in his 
step. .That is the only wound received through 



208 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

his hazardous life. That horse was a cheat. He 
had heen so spoiled that he would not be ridden: 
he would lie down if he could not rid himself of his 
rider in any other way; but he could do such tall 
pitching that it was next to impossible to stick to 
him. Some persons cling so closely that it would 
seem they were a part of the horse, but this horse 
could dash down the most adhesive riders — he 
would not be ridden. It is said that all animals 
pitch in Texas; even sheep, hogs, and oxen, pitch 
out here, when closely crowded. Our readers out 
of Texas may not exactly understand what pitching 
means, and we will now try to explain it. The 
cow-boys have given it another name now — they 
call it "bucking." A wild horse is lassoed around 
his neck, and if he is very wild he is choked till he 
falls. Instantly the noose is slackened to prevent 
choking him to death, and his head is held up so 
that he cannot rise. While he is down, he is tight- 
ly saddled with front and flank girths; but if not 
extra wild he is lassoed, blindfolded, and then sad- 
dled in like manner, and the blind is removed, the 
rider standing on the ground, holding a long rope 
which is attached to the horse's neck, and head, and 
nose, so as to answer for a bridle. Then he begins 
to pitch as soon as he sees the saddle on his back. 
In that way he is led about until he finds that he 
cannot get it off by "bucking." Then he is patted, 
and the blind is drawn over his eyes, and the rider 
shakes the saddle, and presses on it, ties the stirrups 
about two feet apart under the animal's body, so 
that they cannot fly out on either side; then he 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 209 

makes several efforts as if going to mount, to see 
if he will jump at his mounting, the horse stand- 
ing still all the time; then he gently but quickly 
places his left-foot in the stirrup, and swings him- 
self into the saddle like the winking of an eye. 
There he is safe in the saddle. A horse seldom 
moves while the blind is on him. The rider then 
reaches over and slips off* the blind, and then the 
pitching begins. Some run, and pitch as they run; 
others just pitch and pitch till they find it is of no 
use, and give it up. Some pitch straightforward, 
some in a zigzag, called ''fence -worm pitching" 
— that is the most difficult to stick. In the pitch, 
they stiffen all their legs as if joint! ess, tuck their 
heads between their fore-legs, hump their backs, 
bounce into the air as if going to ascend, but pitch 
forward, striking the ground with great jarring 
force; hence, the maneuver is called pitching, and 
the back -humping is styled "bucking." In the 
meantime, the rider's legs and knees stick so closely 
to the careering horse that it would seem as if they 
had grown there, but his body is held more limber, 
and sways to and fro as the animal may lunge. 
Sometimes the dashing is so violent as to sling the 
blood from the rider's lungs, and unhouse his linen 
from his pantaloons. There is a coarse saying in 
Texas among the vulgar quite expressive of that 
violent pitching: they call it "pitching the filling 
out of a negro's shirt." Once in the saddle, there 
is no dismounting till the jumping is over, and the 
blind is drawn over the eyes. No mounting or dis- 
mounting for sometime, till the horse is blinded. A 
14 



210 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

leap in the act of mounting, or lighting, is extreme- 
ly dangerous. This is the way they manage a wild 
horse, and that is the meaning of pitching. 

In one of the Indian raids on Curry's Creek that 
year, an Indian was killed while letting down the 
fence to steal a horse. Dr. Nowlin, knowing that 
Indians were in, stationed two armed men in a crib 
to guard his horses; and two Indians came in the 
moonlight, and began to let down the fence to get 
the horses out, and one of the men fired, killing one 
Indian instantly; the other thief ran off, the other 
white man being so frightened he could not shoot. 
The fallen Indian had a string of buttons around 
one wrist, and a metal cross attached to his hair; 
and had his little paint-bag, which Mr. Potter gave 
to Dr. McFerrin several years ago. 

ITow we copy from Mr. Potter's journal: "This 
circuit was in the bounds of Brother Thornberry's 
district, and he had visited it the previous year, and 
held several meetings, and the people were greatly 
carried away with him. He was in everybody's 
mouth. Thornberry was the greatest preacher that 
had ever visited these mountains. Everywhere I 
would go it was 'Thornberry, Thornberry.' I 
preached away the best I could, but it was nothing 
like Thornberry's preaching. Of course, I would 
say, 'Yes, Brother Thornberry is a good preacher:' 
it would not do to say otherwise. At the time I 
thought it time they were beginning to think that 
Potter was some preacher — at least some of them. 
So one night I was preaching at a certain place. I 
warmed up to a lively temperature, and a good old 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 211 

sister arose shouting, sa-jing, 'Glory to God! halle- 
lujah! somebody can preach as well as Brother 
Thornberry!' This good sister gave me a lift, and 
I began to climb upward from that time. Our first 
quarterly-meeting came on in the same neighbor- 
hood, and Brother Thornberry, being the presiding 
elder, was there. To the great joy of all the people, 
their great preacher had come again. I was ap- 
pointed to preach on Friday night, and after preach- 
ing Brother P overheard a crowd of young 

men discussing the ability of preachers, one of them 
saying, ' You can say what you please, but I will 
bet my horse that Potter can beat your great man, 
Thornberry, preaching.' It was such a good joke 

that Brother P told it in a crowd of men in the 

presence of Thornberry. To humor the joke, I 
said, 'It is a little strange that there should be any 
dispute about that, as it was now high time all 
should say that I could just lay Thornberry in the 
shade.' Brother Thornberry relished the joke, and 
passed it off in his usual good-humored way." 

On this circuit Mr. Potter had quite a unique 
w^orldly friend, whom he graphically depicts in his 
usual style. He calls him "Buck Hamilton." He 
is now sheriff* of Bandera County, and when Mr. 
Potter was there a few weeks ago, he raised money 
to present him w^ith a suit of clothes — "Navy-blue." 
He surely is a remarkably clever, unique man. Here 
is the description: 

" This year I formed an acquaintance with a gen- 
tleman named Buck Hamilton, living about two 
miles below where Centre Point now stands. I 



212 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

preached at a school-house- near his house, and it 
was one of my stopping-places. He was a wicked 
man, and possessed a large amount of original wit, 
and a little rough and blunt in his manners. As 
the old adage goes, ' What came up, came out.' He 
often said what he did not mean, but just the re- 
verse. Using a common phrase, ' There was no put 
on' in him. He was a great joker, and the preach- 
ers never escaped his wit; and the harder they re- 
torted on him, the better it pleased him; and the 
more liberties they might take about his home, the 
more he liked them. I found him to be a great deal 
better inside than he seemed to be outside. His 
wife and his relatives are mostly Methodists. When 
I would stay all night with Buck, he expected to 
have prayers, but he had a queer way of bringing 
it about. After talking till time to retire, he would 
say, 'Potter, it is time to go to bed — we do n't have 
prayers here.' That was his manner of calling up 
the subject. I would say, 'Well, Buck, if you 
do n't let me have prayers I will not let you sleep.' 
' Well, Ann,' addressing his wife, ' get the old Bible, 
and let the preacher pray.' 

"I appointed a camp-meeting just across the river 
from Buck's house, and the people were very slow 
about preparing the place, and I went to where 
Buck was at work, and told him that I could not 
get the lazy Methodists to erect an arbor, and I 
wanted him and the other old sinners to build it; 
and he laid down his tools and raised a crowd, and 
soon the arbor went up; and Buck furnished all 
the beef for the camp-meeting. After I moved my 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 213 

family to the mountains, he sent me word to bring 
up my wagon, and he would give me a load of corn. 
So, at my appointment at his school-house, I took 
my wagon, and my wife went with me. He had 
never seen Mrs. Potter. When I introduced her to 
him, he said, ' Mrs. Potter, you have crazy spells 
sometimes, do n't you?' She replied that she might 
have been a little so at times — about the time of her 
marriage. He remarked, 'I thought so, or you 
would not have married Potter.' Sher had heard of 
his singular manner, and anticipated the meaning 
of his irony; hence her answer. 

"When he was preparing to move to the upper 
Medina, I said to him one day, 'Buck, you are go- 
ing to move into that wild region, and I am afraid 
the Indians will kill you, and you owe me a half-* 
dollar, and I would like to have that before you go; 
and perhaps I had better preach your funeral before 
you go.' He said, 'No; but he had lost a dog, and 
thought him dead, and he would be glad to have 
me preach his funeral. I said, 'Never mind, Buck; 
may be so; you may die, or get killed, and I can 
iust preach both at once.' Years have rolled away, 
and Buck still lives, and is still the same noble- 
hearted, generous man, and I often have the pleas- 
ure of enjoying his kind hospitality. I attended a 
quarterly-meeting at Bandera recently, and Buck 
and another irreligious man had presented a Cum- 
berland Presbyterian minister with a suit of clothes. 
I took up a collection on Sunday for missions, and 
I told the audience that in such collections we had 
to shear the sheep and the goats too. At the close 



214 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

of the afternoon service, just as I pronounced the 
benediction, Buck cried out, ' Hold on, friends — I 
have something to say before you disperse. We 
goats here have given one preacher a suit of clothes; 
now come up, you sheep, and give Mr. Potter a suit. 
Do n't delay; bring up your money; don't let the 
goats outshear you!' That brought the fleece from 
the sheep — I got the clothes, ready-made." 

Indeed, Mr. Potter's friend Buck is a marvel, a 
strange lump of simple generosity, and the writer 
can but hope that there may yet be a grace-renewed 
future for him here, and a glory-adorned state for 
him hereafter. 

At the camp-meeting just referred to. Dr. J. G. 
Walker and presiding elder Thornberry were Mr. 
Potter's helpers; and having to leave early, he had 
to close the camp-meeting with twenty-six mourn- 
ers at the altar, which was regretted. The last 
quarterly-meeting at Iverrville was a pleasant time; 
the financial assessments were all met. In passing 
down the river to Comfort, Mr. Potter's horse need- 
ed a shoe, but the blacksmith could not shoe him. 
The presiding elder being a good smith, he dis- 
mounted, soon put on the shoe, and they were oiF 
again. They had appointments to preach, as they 
passed along the river, at the several preaching- 
places; and Mr. Potter, having had a good time 
among the people, was tender, and made a kind of 
farewell appeals to the congregations, telling them 
that, though soon rivers might roll and mountains 
might tower between them, they should meet again. 
Mr. Thornberry is a cheerful traveling companion, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 215 

and is fond of "rigging" Mr. Potter. When he 
would be driving along the long, lonesome roads 
through the mountains, and Mr. Potter would be 
in his buggy in the rear, Mr. Thornberry would rise 
up in his buggy, and reproduce that grand saying, 
"• Rivers may roll and mountains rise up between 
us;" and told on him to the preachers at Confer- 
ence. Potter knows the meaning of " rolling riv- 
ers and rising mountains." 

Mr. Potter sent an appointment to hold a pro- 
tracted-meeting at a central point between two set- 
tlements on Curry's Creek, but on arriving at the 
place on Friday, he found nothing had been done 
in preparing a place for worship. He went to a 
house near by, but the man of the house was ab- 
sent. Several young men were there, and Mr. Pot- 
ter asked for the loan of an ax. Getting it, he 
started off with it, when one of the young men in- 
quired what he was going to do with the ax. He 
said he was going to preach down there in the grove 
that night, and there was some undergrowth in the 
way, and he was going to clear it out; and the 
young men hunted up other old axes, and aided him 
in preparing the place for the big meeting. While 
there, another young man came riding by, and he 
agreed to ride over the neighborhoods and give no- 
tice; and the absent gentleman came home, and 
hauled poles and puncheons, and arranged seats, 
and at night the meeting began sure enough, and 
the grand ultimate was quite a revival. 

Mr. Potter visited his family only two or three 
times this year, and desiring to continue in the 



216 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

mountain work, he sold out his home near Prairie 
Lee, and made a purchase near Comfort, in the 
Guadalupe Valley, and moved to it before Christ- 
mas. Mr. Thornberry told him that he should re- 
turn him to the Kerrville Circuit, and that he had 
better not go to Conference, but move his family on 
the work during the time of the Conference session, 
which he did. It was more than two hundred miles 
from Kerrville to Corpus Christi, the seat of the 
Conference. The season was late, and many of the 
preachers endured much suffering en route. It 
caused the death of one of the best divines West 
Texas Conference ever had — Asbury Davidson. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 217 



CHAPTER XXV. 

At the Conference at Corpus Christi, Mr. Potter was 
reappointed to the Kerrville Circuit, the Pev. J. S. 
Gillett being appointed presiding elder. Mr. Gillett, 
like the writer, had a great repugnance at the idea 
of meeting with Indians, and Mr. Potter was his 
safe-conduct through the dangerous defiles. He is 
a tall and a fine specimen of manhood. He had a 
large horse, and a large pair of saddle-wallets well 
packed. Thus mounted, with a double-barreled shot- 
gun swinging in front of his saddle-horn and across 
his horse's neck, and fastened to that horn, he pre- 
sented a daring front, sufiicient to frighten and put 
to flight a band of Indians. But he was sensitive 
on the Indian question, and in going to the Kerrville 
Circuit, a distance of a little more than eighty miles, 
Mr. Potter always met him at Boerne, and piloted 
him through to Kerrville, in the upper Guadalupe 
Valley. Mr. Gillett would venture alone as far as 
Boerne, but it was not a safe road, for the Indians 
sometimes ventured in upon the thirty miles inter- 
vening between Boerne and San Antonio, a long, 
lonesome, mountainous road. Uvalde was the ex- 
treme western appointment, and it had a dreadful 
name, which it fully merited; and Mr. Gillett would 
have Mr. Potter go with him there. To reach that 
place Mr. Potter had to travel one hundred miles, 



218 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and more than fifty of them he had to go and return 
alone though the Indian wilds. He met Mr. Gillett 
at the appointed time on the Hondo, forty miles 
from Uvalde, and they journeyed on together. Mr. 
Gillett preached on Saturday night, and on the same 
night some one shot into a house and killed a Mex- 
ican. That was a little trying to tender nerves. On 
the Sabbath a drunken man came to the sacrament- 
table at the close when a song was being sung, but 
two young men saved Mr. Potter the job of leading 
him, by taking him by each arm and walking him 
out. l^ext morning the preachers started home, but 
on reaching the Frio River it was too high to be 
forded, and after remaining on its banks many hours, 
waiting for it to fall, at last they had to ride eight 
miles back to Uvalde to stay all night. That was a 
cross to the tender sensibilities of Mr. Gillett, being 
hemmed in so far out on the border, where there was 
little safety in the town or in the brush. 

Mr. Potter returned to his circuit in safety, and 
finished up a pleasant year's work to himself and to 
the Church. At one of his appointments lived one 
of an outspoken sort of ladies who was a member 
of his charge, and she had not formed a partial re- 
gard for Mr. Potter at first, but had become greatly 
attached to his ministry. She called her husband 
" Tom." As Mr. Potter was about to start to Con- 
ference, she was heard to say: "Tom, be sure and 
tell Brother Potter to try to get back on this circuit. 
He has done a great deal of good here, and the peo- 
ple all like him, and want him back. I did not like 
him when he first came here. His eyes looked just 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 219 

like a glass-eyed filly's ; but now I want him back, 
since he has got to preaching good sermons; and 
everybody wants him back." 

On their way to Conference, several preachers 
were passing through a region of potteries, where 
the clay was wet from rains, and Mr. Gillett said to 
Mr. Potter, "The potter has power over the clay; 
so. Potter, go to work." Mr. Potter said, " Just hold 
my horse, and I will make a presiding elder, and 
make a better one than I now have." 

From the Conference at Goliad, Mr. Potter was 
returned to the Kerrville Circuit, Rev. J. S. Gillett 
being presiding elder, and they kept up a regular 
correspondence when not together at their quarterly- 
meetings. There being the tenderest intimacy be- 
tween them, they indulged in a great deal of amusing 
witticisms and fun. Both of them usually carry a 
cheerful class of feelings, and are good at retort and 
repartee. 

Mr. Potter had in some way got into the agency of 
selling a patent medicine called "Soother of Pain," 
for which his brethren often took occasion to joke 
him. In this year Mr. Potter wrote a letter to Mr. 
Gillett, and signed his name "A. J. P.," and Mr. 
Gillett replied in poetic measure; but it is lost. It 
was a scathing criticism on Mr. Potter's medical ex- 
periments. He concluded his poetic efi:usions with 
something like the following: "Who is 'A. J. P.,' 
I pray? Is he a quack, that he his name conceals?" 
Then he made an index-hand with the forefinger 
pointing down at the phrase, " Soother of Pain, " 
and then signed it "Jack S." Mr. Potter replied: 



220 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

"Dear brother, I have just received your criticism 
on the st^'le of my signature. I wouhi just say that 
letters not only stand for individual names, but titles 
also — for instance, big ' P. C stands for big preacher 
in charge, and little ' p. e.' for little presiding elder. 
But who is 'Jack S.?' 'Jack-ass,' I know. I sup- 
pose you have just omitted two letters of your name, 
and I will add them. If 'Jack S.' (ass) comes to 
my camp-meeting, we w^ill be sure to have some suc- 
cess, as we will not only hear some of the thunder- 
tones of that voice which reproved the wicked Ba- 
laam, but we will be prepared to do battle with that 
weapon with which the noted Samson gained such 
a memorable victory over his foes. In either case 
the 'jaw' will have to be used, and if in the conflict 
you should lose your scalp, I can bring out a new 
suit with my 'Soother of Pain.' Since you have 
tuned your lyre, I shall touch the chords of mine: 

For Attic disorder, 

Or enlargement of brain, 
You'll tind much relief 

In my " Soother of Pain." 
Just rub well the head. 

And give close attention ; 
It will soften the skull. 

And make room for expansion. 

Andrew Jackson Potter, 

The Pain-soother" 

Mr. Gillett and Mr. Potter held a successful camp- 
meeting this year at Tatum's School -house. Mr. 
Gillett truly excelled himself in a series of sermons 
on the vital doctrines of Christianity. After one 
of those able sermons Mr. Potter exhorted, knowing 
that the sinners were well convinced, and some of 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 221 

them anxious to come to the altar of prayer. He 
enforced the prodigal's resolve, "I will arise;" and 
on giving the invitation, they pressed to the altar in 
a throng. In a short time one dozen of them were 
converted. One of them slapped his hands together 
and said, "Mr. Potter, I feel just as good as I want 
to." It was indeed a great camp-meeting. 

Mr. Potter, by special invitation, went to the 
celebrated "Sabinal Canon" this year, and held a 
noted camp-meeting. He had to travel alone sixty 
miles through the Indian -raiding region to reach 
the place, but he made the journey unharmed. The 
people came as far as forty miles to camp in wagons 
and cloth tents. Camp -meetings out there were 
held in the grove, or in a mot of timber; no shelters, 
but boughs of trees, or brush arbors. Mr. Potter 
was the only regular itinerant minister there. A 
local preacher by the name of Smith supplied the 
circuit there that year. Recently he has been mur- 
dered. Two other local brethren aided in the meet- 
ing — Mr. Jones and Mr. [N'ewton. It was the first 
camp-meeting ever held in that canon. It was a 
grand time, and long to be remembered by the old 
Methodists of the Western frontier. Mr. Gillett 
and Mr. Potter were staying all night at a certain 
house, and occupied the same room. Mr. Gillett, 
rising first in the morning, stepped out on the gal- 
lery to wash, and there was lying by the wash-bowl 
a rock resembling a bar of soap, a complete imita- 
tion in shape and in color, and Mr. Gillett picked it 
up, and dipped it in the water, and began to rub it 
in his hands. Finding it a "sell," he looked back 



222 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to see if Mr. Potter saw hira, when Mr. Potter 
quizzically inquired, "Can't you make it lather?" 
He replied, ^'~No; it is a complete sell." Riding 
down the valley that day with several others, Mr. 
Gillett was boasting how he could throw rocks. He 
could hit almost any thing, and was just going to 
tell of a great feat, and said, " I will venture I have 
done with rocks what no other man in this crowd 
has ever done." Mr. Potter replied, " No one will 
dispute that. I suppose no one here ever tried to 
substitute a rock for soap." Mr. Gillett was just 
going to say that he had killed two wild cats with 
rocks; but that turned the tables. In these mount- 
ains there are many strange petrifactions, many of 
them resembling bars of soap in shape, size, and 
color, and many petrified sea -shells of the ages 
gone by. 

In closing the toils of three years on the Kerrville 
Circuit, memory records a vast volume of anxieties, 
doubts, fears, hopes, joys, and troubles; a multitude 
of labors, victories, and defeats; but, too, a period 
of many happy seasons in the cultivation of ''Im- 
manuel's land," with Mr. Potter. The Church was 
established on a foundation which is to stand as the 
immovable mountains, while the decay of the ages 
shall wear and -svaste the works of men and the 
glory of empires. While clouds and sunshine shall 
succeed each other in these vales and towering hills, 
and verdant spring-time shall follow the dreary win- 
ter's gloom hovering on height and plain; while 
wild birds trill sweet music in the leafy grove, and 
the joyous reapers "sing harvest-home songs" in 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 223 

the golden fields, waving before the mower's blade, 
the Church-fruit of that grand three-years' sowing 
shall mature and ripen its successive harvests for 
the celestial garner. 

In the Kerrville Circuit our devoted pioneer has 
lett foot-prints on memory's sands not soon to be 
covered up by unfriendly winds. ^' Potter," the im- 
mortal Potter, is almost carved on the face of the 
beetling crags and high, chalky clifts overhanging 
the vales where he has traveled, against whose light- 
ning-scathed brow his voice has echoed, telling of the 
One that saves. There were many friends whose 
w^illing kindness he has shared when, toil-worn, he 
sought rest and repose. Among the dear names of 
many, Avith great pleasure he records the names of 
old Brother and Sister Lowrance, at Kerrville, just 
awaiting their change to the immortal shore; and 
also Mr. Daniel Rugh, at Bandera, now ripening for 
the harvest. 



224 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

At the Conference at San Marcos, Bishop Marvin 
presiding, Mr. Potter was sent to the Somerset 
Circuit, a new name given to the circuit, but ever 
after it has been called Medina Circuit, or Mission. 
Mr. Gillett was still the presiding elder. 

This year Mr. Potter sold out his home on Flat 
Rock, near Comfort, in the Guadaloupe Valley, and 
bought and moved to his present mountain-home 
near Boerne. It was a year fraught with great hard- 
ships to preacher and people, through the scarcity 
of grass, and water, and provisions, owing to a se- 
vere drought in the mountains. He had to give up 
a part of his circuit in the latter part of the year 
for want of grass for his horse. In those days grass 
was the stay and staff of the horse, and without it he 
could not hold up to carry his rider. It is specially 
a hard year to the preacher having to move into the 
woods, without fence, field, or cabin. But withal 
he had good, religious times. Before moving, his 
circuit was about sixty miles from home, and he 
had much hard riding to do; besides going with 
his presiding elder to most of his frontier camp- 
meetings, where they had many revival seasons re- 
sulting in lasting good to the Church and country. 
The famed Rev. J. W. DeVilbiss, long an efficient 
preacher and agent of the American Bible Society, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 225 

and now superannuated, of the "West Texas Confer- 
ence, just awaiting his Master's orders, lived on 
this circuit this year. With him and his pleasant 
family Mr. Potter had many enjoyable social inter- 
views and religious communions. His presiding 
elder lived in the circuit; and here we copy an ac- 
count of their pleasant associations: 

" This year my presiding elder lived in my cir- 
cuit, and I had the pleasure of spending many 
pleasant hours in social intercourse with him and 
his kind fiimily around his own fireside. There I 
made one of my homes to rest. 

" During the year ni}^ wife made a tour with me 
on the circuit, and of course we called on our presid- 
ing elder. Out of mischief Gillett went out and 
killed a rabbit and dressed it, and had it cooked for 
dinner. Poor Gillett! he has not yet heard the last 
of that rabbit. In the year I accompanied him to 
one of his quarterly-meetings at Kerrville. There 
being no pastor on that circuit that year, the people 
paid the elder by public collections at each quar- 
terly-meeting. At this meeting Gillett opened the 
service on Sunday morning, and just as he finished 
reading the last hymn I rose up, and taking the 
hymn-book out of his hand, told him to sit down 
for a moment. I said to the congregation that 
I proposed to lift a collection for the support of 
the presiding elder's family; that I did not ask 
a cent for him; that he was big and fat, and that 
the people fed him well wherever he went, but 
that he had an excellent wife and several in- 
teresting children that must be fed and clothed. 
15 



226 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

I said there were two sides to all public men — for 
instance: here is Brother Gillett, he is well dressed, 
and looks like he might be in easy circumstances. 
He will preach you a good sermon. Here you 
have the presiding elder; but if you will follow 
him as I have, you will find a man living about 
fourteen miles south of San Antonio in a log 
cabin stuck ofl' in a musquite thicket, and about 
nine acres of land surrounded by a tolerable brush 
fence. Here you will see a man wearing a lopped 
hat and hickory shirt, ax in hand, and also a ham- 
mer, dragging around trying to get things in or- 
der before leaving home again on a distant tour. 
Brother Gillett is a good third-rate shoemaker. I 
have seen him mending his children's shoes. My- 
self and wife went to spend the day with him once 
upon a time, and he had to go out and kill a rabbit 
for dinner. Here you have the husband and father 
amid the cares and vexations of home-life. By this 
time Gillett's head had reached his knees. Now 

while we sing, Brother G and Brother H 

will pass around the hat. The collection amounted 
to twenty-six dollars. Gillett was greatly outraged, 
and said that two things saved me — I had bragged 
on his wife and got the money. He said I had slan- 
dered him, that he had never worn a hickory shirt 
in his life — it was checked cotton. He got in a 
good humor." 

Such was the intimate relations existing between 
these brethren that they took great liberties with 
each other, and ever took exquisite pleasure in pass- 
ing upon each other a hearty joke or a keen- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 227 

edged quiz. On a certain round of quarterly-meet- 
ings Mr. Qillett had preached on the subject of 
natural depravity several times, making it a kind 
of hobby, till Mr. Potter got a little tired of it. 
As they were riding along, going down to Mr. 
Potter's own quarterly-meeting, Mr. Gillett said: 
"Potter, what must I preach about at your quar- 
terly-meeting?" Mr. Potter could not lose his op- 
portunity; he replied: "Can't you give us items on 
depravit}^?" Mr. Gillett said, "I am the man for 
that;" to which Mr. Potter tartly replied: "You 
can't do any thing else — at least you have not late- 
ly." He did not choose that subject for the pulpit 
that day. 



228 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

At the Conference at Leesville, in the fall of 1871, 
Bishop Marvin presided, and Mr. Potter was sent 
to the Uvalde Circnit, and J. S. Gillett, presiding 
elder. It was indeed a circuity being in the form of 
a circle. It was in many respects the most difficnlt, 
the most dangerous part of Mr. Potter's itinerant 
life. Its nearest point was fifty miles from his home. 
It is supposed to be about two hundred miles around 
this circuit as it was at that time, but it paid Mr. 
Potter in temporalities better than any other circuit 
he has ever traveled. It gave him five hundred and 
twenty-five dollars, besides a number of valuable 
presents. It was contiguous to the Rio Grande, 
where the Indians could cross over any day; and 
killing and stealing was almost a daily occurrence. 
The town of Uvalde was of bloody fame; its record 
is written in red capitals; but it is now one of the 
most peaceful towns in the Great West — Sodom is 
reformed. Mr. Potter was pastor in that town, first 
and last, four years, and it shows a greater harvest 
of his ministerial labors than any other place along 
the extended border-field. 

On this circuit he finds many a pleasant home 
where he is greeted joyfully; and he holds their 
memories in a sacred niche in its halls, whose names 
would fill many pages in this book, among whom 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 229 

we record that of Judge Harper, living on the 
Hondo. He is the father of Methodism in the 
West, and father of the Rev. John Harper, form- 
erly of the West Texas Conference, and also father- 
in-law of the Rev. Willie Fly, elsewhere mentioned 
in this book. There too is the Rev. Irvin Johns 
and the Rev. A. J. Smith — lately murdered. These 
brethren knew how to sympathize with a traveling 
preacher, and to make him feel at home at their 
firesides. Mr. Johns had been in the Alabama Con- 
ference, but has lately spent a useful local life in 
this far West. 

Mr. Potter closed a prosperous year of great ben- 
efit to the Church, and repaired to Conference in 
company with the Rev. B. Harris, in Mr. Potter's 
ambulance. Here we copy an account of their stop- 
ping all night with French Smith, in Guadalupe 
County — a man of quite a large share of political 
information, and who has ever been noted for his 
generous hospitality. He was a special friend of 
the writer. Once when we asked him for a dona- 
tion to purchase a bell for the M. E. Chnrch, South, 
at Seguin, he generously proposed to give me one 
hundred dollars for that purpose if I would have 
painted in large capitals, high up on the four sides 
of the cupola, " French Smith ; " saying, " Parson, 
that is as nigh heaven as I ever expect to get." But 
he closed a long life last summer, and in his last 
sickness he had pious songs and the prayers of the 
righteous — which availeth much — and hope looks 
higher up in celestial spheres for the spirit of the 
old Texas veteran than the elevated church-steeple. 



230 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

The conversion of General Henry E. McCalloch, 
to which he refers, was a wonderful event, display- 
ing the evident presence of divine power which no 
spectator could doubt, which Mr. Smith never could 
forget, and the undeviating life of the general ever 
after, under the most trying ordeals, clearly stamps 
his change to have been genuine — divine — fruit of 
divine operation. Eead the following copy: 

"It was getting dark and drizzling rain when we 
drove up to Col. French Smith's, and a gentleman 
came out to the fence. I asked if we could stay all 
night. He said he would see Col. Smith. Return- 
ing, he said we could not stay; and while we were 
studying what to do the old colonel came out, con- 
siderably in liquor, and said, ^Gentlemen, who in 

the are you, and where are you going? Drive 

round to the gate, gentlemen; old French Smith 
never turned anybody away from his house in his 
life. If you can put up with beef and black coflee 
you are welcome, gentlemen. Now just strip your 

horses; and I say, gentlemen, who in the are 

you, and where in the are you going this dark, 

muddy night? ' I replied, ' Sir, we are Methodist 
preachers, going to Conference at Victoria.' He 
then called out, ' O Shug, Shug [meaning his old 
lady], kill a chicken, kill a chicken! here are two 
Methodist preachers. Gentlemen, please tell me 
your names.' I said, ^Potter is my name, and this 
is the Rev. Buckner Harris.' ' Gentlemen,' replied 
the colonel, ^I have heard of you both; come in, 
you are welcome.' We walked in, and the colonel 
talked so fast that I cannot recollect half he said; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 231 

but he went on to say, ^ Gentlemen, I am not a mem- 
ber of your Church. I don't believe some things I 
hear preached novv-a-days. You need not tell me 
that a negro has a soul; no, he is an anomaly in the 
universe — he is God's mishap. But I can't help be- 
lieving that there is a power in religion. I was at 
the meeting when General McCulloch was convert- 
ed, and I know that God had something to do with 
that; God laid his hand upon his heart — he punched 
him. He is a changed man.' Supper was an- 
nounced, and he said, ' IN'ow, gentlemen, walk into 
supper,' and as we entered the dining-room he re- 
marked, ' Gentlemen, let me introduce you to my 
daughter. Miss Ann Smith, the prettiest girl in Gua- 
dalupe County.' After supper he said, ' Gentlemen, 
I used to hear a good old song, and if either of you 
can sing it I would like to have you do so.' ' What 
is it? ' I asked; ' if I know it I will sing it.' He re- 
plied that it was, ' When for eternal worlds I steer.' 
I thought that if I could get him to singing it 
would change the current of his thoughts, so I be- 
gan to sing. 

"Next morning he said: 'Now, Mr. Potter, you 
must go with me to the stable and see my race- 
mare, and tell me what you think of her; I am told 
that you are a fine judge of a horse. I call her 
Income, and think she is a perfect lamp-lighter.' 
I asked the colonel to excuse me, as I was in a 
hurry. 'You are not going a step till you look at 
my mare,' w^as his reply. I went and looked all 
around her carefully, and told him that she would 
do if she had the bottom. ' She has got it, sir ! ' and 



232 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

slapping ine on the shoulder, he said, 'Now come to 
the house and have prayers.' We prayed, and bade 
him adieu. 

" Had it not been for one blunder in the life of 
our friend Colonel Smith, he doubtless would have 
been one of the leading politicians in Texas — that 
ruinous habit which so often destroys the usefulness 
of many men of great and useful talents — indulg- 
ence in ardent spirits. His was a house of hospi- 
tality. His good lady was one of earth's jewels." 

We close this chapter with letters from the Rev. 
J. S. Gillett and Bishop Marvin : 

At Home, June 6, 1872. 
My Dear Potter : — I got home in safety, and found all well. 
I liad a good rain on the evening of my arrival, and have a splen- 
did crop. I am thankful to my Father in heaven. I write to ask 
you to give up riding in your buggy on your circuit, for I am afraid 
the Indians will get you if you do not. I am much afraid that they 
have killed Brother Fly. I have heard that he is missing, and 
there were more than thirty Indians in at that time. I am sad, sad, 
at what I fear is true. You must let me know if it be so. Get you 
a good horse, Brother Potter, and ride him on your work. Better 
do that, and let the books go, or take a few on each round. The 
people had better do without books than that we should lose you. 
Please, Brother Potter, don't go out there any more in your buggy. 
Your friend and brother, J. S. Gillett, P. E. 

As heretofore stated, Mr. Gillett was not one en- 
dowed with any anxious cravings to try his valor in 
the presence of tattooed savages armed w^ith bows 
and steel -pointed arrows; and it was with no little 
trepidation that he ventured into the regions so 
often visited by those heartless enemies of the white 
man; and he even felt a bosom full of fears about 
his brethren, w^hose lives w^ere in jeopardy each 
passing day and night. Indeed, nothing but a pro- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 233 

tecting Providence could have saved them from 
those perils. His love for Mr. Potter is seen in his 
fears of his loss. It was a squally time, but Mr. 
Ply came up all safe. 

We now transcribe Bishop Marvin's letter : 

St. Louis, April 11, 1872. 

Dear Brother Potter: — I was truly rejoiced to hear that you 
had begun the year on Uvalde Circuit with such fair prospects of 
usefulness, and withal that you had some assurance of something to 
live on. 

There is no work on earth like God's work. The salvation of one 
soul is of greater importance than all the wars and conquests of 
history. I trust the Lord will give you many this year. Live 
much in prayer; cultivate the feeling of entire consecration to him 
and total dependence on him. He will never leave you ; he has 
promised to be with his servants even to the end of the world. 

I hope your books have come by this time ; I have no doubts 
that you will be able to find sale for them when they come. 

I always feel a little solicitation about you on the frontier, but yet 
when I think that a preacher has hardly ever been killed in that 
work, I cannot think that you are in much real danger. God will 
have you in his holy keeping. May his presence be with you at all 
times ! Your brother, E. M. Marvin. 

At the West Texas Conference at Leesville, Bish- 
op Marvin was much interested in Mr. Potter and 
the wants of the frontier he represented — Potter 
and the border being identical; which is now an 
evidence of that departed great man's foresight into 
character, and the adumbrated future of this ex- 
tended border. 

To aid in the circulation of religious literature in 
Mr. Potter's mission-field the generous Bishop kind- 
ly proposed to indorse a note in bank to enable him 
to purchase the books. The books were received 
and circulated — they were the books referred to in 



234 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the Bishop's letter just transcribed, and also men- 
tioned in the Kev. Mr. Gillett's letter copied else- 
where. Mr. Potter has not only preached through- 
out this vast mountain-range, but has hauled good 
books and Bibles all over its valleys and rolling 
ridges for the benefit of the frontiersmen. 

He has been a great Bible distributer, as may be 
seen in the chapter containing Dr. West's letter. 
He has piloted the agents of the American Bible 
Society through this dangerous realm, and then 
has aided in the distribution of the books by sale 
and donations. Railroads are nearing the borders 
of that great mountain-zone, and its vales and shints 
are being rapidly filled up, and a new work of ex- 
ploration is being needed, and a supply of ministe- 
rial recruits are coming into demand. But the 
vigilant Potter is on the outlook, and timely sees 
each opening field, and is now planning for supplies. 
Already he utters the Macedonian cry, "Come 
over and help us ! " But he calls not worn-out 
ministerial jades, or the fastidious neophyte who 
dreams of Indian raids, or dreads a home in Nature's 
solitudes in tent or camp, but those strong in faith 
and fearless in zeal for the Master's cause. If the 
Church will support them, God will send them as 
surely as he sent Missouri's child to plant the sci- 
ons of the kingdom of his dear Son here in earlier 
days. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 235 



CHAPTEE XXYIII. 

At the Conference at Victoria, Mr. Potter had to 
tell of his Indian fight that year to Bishop Keener 
and Dr. J. B. McFerrin. After hearing the narra- 
tive through, the Bishop inquired, " Brother Potter, 
what do you do with that scripture which says the 
weapons of our warfare are not carnal?" Dr. Mc- 
Ferrin replied, " There were no Indians there when 
that was written." 

Mr. Potter was domiciled at McGrew's hotel, 
where he met a great many stock-men and '' cow- 
boys" from the West, and he had an interesting 
time with them at the hotel, and a more congenial 
association with his brethren at the Conference-hall. 
There was a young wag at the hotel who took pleas- 
ure in making prominent his non-religious creed. 
When the subject of the Conference or religion was 
mentioned, he seemed to think it a duty imposed 
on him to speak of either in no favorable manner. 
Mr. Potter endured the silly youth's flirts at sacred 
things several days. At the table the Conference 
was under review, and the vain spright was called 
on to stain the hallowed' theme with the slime of 
his incredulity, and he spit it out as usual, saying 
that he did not believe there was any truth in 
religion; that man was no more than a dog; that 
wiien he was dead he went to dust like a dog. 



236 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

That was Mr. Potter's chance: he could not forego 
the opportunity, and in his cool, shrewd way he said 
to the youth, "It does not require some men to 
wait until they are dead to make them like dogs — 
some of them quite resemble dogs while living." 
The "take-ofi*" was so apropos that the crowd, leav- 
ing decorum out of view, gave way to an uproari- 
ous laugh, and the spurred youth had occasion to 
retire to his room at an early hour that night. 

At that hotel Mr. Potter met Mr. " Good Adams," 
a large stock-raiser in the West, who knew Mr. 
Potter's value to society and the stock interest along 
the western border, by aiding in keeping out the 
savages, and driving out the clans of robbers, and 
he presented Mr. Potter with a Winchester rifle, 
which he carried with him several years when out 
along the border. 

Mr. Potter was ever ready with a suitable retort 
when occasion demanded. He was at a mill one 
day, and the miller, being an unbeliever, said to 
him: "Mr. Potter, you say that your God is a good 
God; if he is such, why don't he make that old 
dead cow out yonder, which is so offensive to me, 
smell sweet as the perfume of the rose?" Mr. Pot- 
ter readily replied : " Why do n't he make a buzzard 
of you, and make the carrion sweet to your taste, 
and its odor pleasant to your smell, as to all other 
buzzards, as it would not take long to do the work — 
it would require but a slight change?" 

At this Conference he was appointed to the 
Uvalde Circuit, the Rev. Buckner Harris, presiding 
elder. Mr. Harris passed the year in much toil and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 237 

great acceptability. He is one of the truest, ablest 
ministers of the West. He is quite a friend of Mr. 
Potter. At one of their quarterly - meetings Mr. 
Potter preached at night, and there was a droll, 
drunken man in the congregation, who was quite 
an object to look upon — ragged and filthy, his hair 
tousled and tangled, his face mottled, his eyes red 
and swollen, who, when the sermon was over, ad- 
vanced to Mr. Potter, "and said: "Parson, you 
preached us a splendid sermon, and I only regret 
that you did not extend the right-hand of fellow- 
ship; I would have given you my hand." Mr. 
Harris, hearing the interview, made his way out- 
doors to indulge in a hearty laugh at Potter's pre- 
dicament; but soon the drunken wag got out and 
got hold of Mr. Harris, and said: "Mr. Harris, I 
believe we had a superb sermon to-night. Parson 
and I only regret that you did not extend the right- 
hand of fellowship; I should have given you my 
hand." 

Mr. Potter made a dangerous swim over the Rio 
Hondo this year, to get to an appointment. These 
Western streams, when swollen, move with great 
force, hurrying away from the mountains to the 
level plains. He had a large, strong horse. He 
tied his "Winchester" to his saddle-horn with a 
long string, so he could hold it up out of the water, 
threw his saddle-bags around his neck, and moved 
into the turbid, dashing waters. When his horse 
struck the bar on the opposite side, the heaving 
current came near upsetting him, but he narrowly 
made the landing. When he reached the church 



238 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

he found a congregation, had a good time, protracted 
the meeting, which ended in a good revival. A 
man from Alabama had a tine mare, and the citizens 
of Frio Town made up one hundred and twenty-five 
dollars, bought her, and presented her to him. 

This year the Rev. Temple G. Wools was licensed 
to preach in Mr. Potter's circuit. Mr. Wools is 
a native Kentuckian. He is a young man of a 
polished and finished education. He has been Sec- 
retary of the West Texas Conference a number of 
years, and one seldom equaled. He traveled the 
Medina Circuit four years, and has filled the Goliad 
Station three years, with unexampled popularity. 
He has ever been a warm friend of Mr. Potter. It 
may seem a little strange that two natures so unlike 
should unify; but extremes often meet. Mr. Wools 
is refined and unused to frontier life, yet the attach- 
ment between these two brethren is warm and en- 
dearing. Mr. Potter has named one of his little 
sons Temple Wools. 

Mr. Potter made a long and laborious tour that 
year with the Pev. Wesley Smith, Superintendent 
of the American Bible Society, w^ho was a zealous 
workman in that vast and important field. The 
District Conference was held at Midway, on the 
Cibolo Circuit, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Potter were 
in attendance. Mr. Smith made a proposition to 
the audience, when lifting a collection for the Bible 
cause, to make Andrew Jackson Potter, their pio- 
neer preacher, a life-member of the American Bible 
Society, and a gentleman by the name of Elam w^ent 
through the congregation and raised the money in 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 239 

a few minutes. The honor was deserved, for he had 
piloted the Superintendent through all the hazards 
along the far-out mountain border. 

The general tender regard which a Conference of 
Methodist preachers have for each other can hardly 
find a parallel in the world outside the ties of blood 
kindred; but in special cases it strengthens into at- 
tachments like that of Jonathan and David, as in 
the instance of Mr. Potter and Mr. Wools, and also 
Mr. Gillett. While, as a class of men, they have 
their little preferences and antipathies, as one body 
they are indeed brethren; and at their annual con- 
vocations all their little uncementing feelings are 
neutralized by the general emotion of fraternal love. 
Their work, their aims, their hopes, are one. If 
earth anywhere can show some resemblance to the 
celestial spheres, it is found in the body of an An- 
nual Conference of Methodist preachers. " By this 
all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
have love one for another." 



240 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

In 1872 Parson Potter was returned to the Uvalde 
Circuit of the "West Texas Conference, a region of 
country sometimes troubled by barbarous Indians, 
as was the entire great frontier at that time. The 
mountains of Texas cover a great area, more than 
one hundred miles deep each way. They rise up 
into points, peaks, and ridges, separated by little 
depressions, and the channels of creeks and rivers 
making valleys here and there, according to the size 
of the stream flowing down them. Sometimes the 
break is no more than a dry, narrow ravine to drain 
off the ^vater-falls. In places the arable valleys are 
ten to twenty miles apart, while the intervening 
spaces are filled with huge cliffs and rugged gorges, fit 
for naught but the abodes of wild beasts, Indians, and 
stock-range. The settlements are made in the val- 
leys, leaving wide, unpeopled ranges between them. 
Along these unsettled belts the wily Indian often 
made predatory inroads to capture horses, and when- 
ever they came near a cabin they would conceal 
themselves in the mountain-cliffs by day, and in the 
night's dead hours walk around the horse-pen, or 
peep in upon the encabined sleepers, leaving their 
moccasin tracks to be traced in the sand in the earl}^ 
dawn. But if a horse was about the premises, he 
foil into their thieving hands; and if they chanced 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 241 

to meet an unfortunate straggler from the settle- 
ments, they took his horse and scalp to their wig- 
warned retreats in some far-oif solitude. 

When Mr. Potter had finished his last round on 
the Uvalde Circuit that year, the Indians were then 
on a thieving raid, in small squads, in that part of 
the country; and having heard of it, he took the 
precaution to carry his Winchester rifle with him. 
He was returning to his mountain-home, traveling 
in an ambulance drawn by two little Spanish mules, 
with a like span tied behind the ambulance. His 
road led him from Frio to Sabinal Canon, through 
narrow defiles, steep ravines,' interspersed with 
dense thickets and spaces of prairie glades. In one 
of these wild, lonely defiles, hemmed in by vast 
ranges of mountainous solitudes, Mr. Potter met a 
squad of four savage Indians. Having crossed 
Cherry Creek, suddenly his keen, watchful eye saw 
something moving along the deep ravine, and on 
close inspection he knew that they were Indians 
aiming to intercept him in the valley below. In- 
stantly he saw that a fight was, perhaps, his only 
chance to save his scalp from their scalping knife, 
knowing that if he tried to return to the settlement 
he had just left that they could overtake him, and 
thinking that perhaps a band was already there to 
cut off his retreat, a fight was the only chance. 
Wishing to bring on the contest far enough from 
the ambulance not to frighten the mules, he reined 
them up to a thicket-mot and made them fast. He 
then took his rifle in hand, and placing himself so 
that a mot should conceal his motions from his wily 
16 



242 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

foe, he hastened to reach the mot unperceived by 
them. Reaching the mot in safety, he cautiously 
passed through it to the other side, when he dis- 
covered the four red savages about fifty paces ofl', 
standing near to the road, awaiting the arrival of 
the ambulance, when they expected to capture 
driver and all. But they had not seen the preacher 
near the thicket-mot, which gave him the chance 
for the first fire; but his gun being rusty, it did not 
fire. The noise of the hammer called their atten- 
tion to him, and the two having citizen-rifles fired 
at him, the bullets passing near to his right-arm. 
Mr. Potter fired at the same moment, wounding 
one of them, whose gun fell from his hand. The 
two unarmed Indians stepped up to the wounded 
one, one of them taking hold of him, and the other 
securing his gun, they all retreated down the ravine. 
The preacher might have slain all four of them 
when they were passing down the ravine, but he 
was afraid to risk the fii-ing of his gun; it having 
been loaded sometime, it had rusted in the breech. 
He hastened back to his ambulance, and led his 
team, holding his gun in one hand, looking out for 
the appearance of other Indians. Obliquing to the 
right of the road he was traveling, he came to the 
base of a bleak mountain near to a dense thicket, 
into which he might enter in case of an attack, 
well knowing an Indian's precaution never to enter 
a thicket in the domain of the white man. He now 
scraped and cleansed his gun, and reloaded the 
empty tubes, and proceeded to light his big pipe and 
take a social smoke within the mountain solitudes. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 243 

On looking upon the great earthen dome above him, 
he saw two of the savages looking down upon him. 
Seeing that he had discovered them, they both 
fired at him from their high position, but their bul- 
lets passed over the ambulance. Mr. Potter then 
returned two shots at them, when they retreated 
away into the invisible domain of the unpeopled 
mountain- world, to meet their antagonist no more, 
till the last trump shall summon the tribes of all 
ages and nations to meet at the great judgment, to 
give an account of the deeds done in the body. 
Mr. Potter then entered his conveyance and drove 
like Jehu for a mile or two, when, finding the dan- 
gers of another attack improbable, he slackened 
speed, and traveled on in safety at his usual gait, 
and in due time reached his cottage -home un- 
harmed. 

In the pious minds of those w^ho have attained 
high plateaus in Christian virtues under the peace- 
ful shades of civilized life, in the olden States, far 
removed from the blood-stained path of the savage, 
there is a seeming paradox in the fellowship of the 
Bible and the sword — the preacher and his rifle, 
on the frontier borders of Western Texas, where 
Indian barbarism and quasi-civilization meet and 
interlap. Amid these far-away mountain-heights, 
where only a few days agone the untamed Indian's 
savage yell and startling war-whoop echoed along 
vale, cliff, and lonely dell, the writer of these pages 
sits this morning in a little studio erected over blood- 
stained dust, where fell in battle-strife the brave, 
dauntless pioneer, the quiet air around his mount- 



244 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

aiu-cottage once thickened by the whizzing flight 
of their steel-pointed arrows seeking the death and 
doom of their pale-faced brother. But the peaceful, 
air-balmed morns of the Eden-like Guadalupe vale 
cost the life-blood of many an aggressive border- 
man, whose dust now enriches the growing tree of 
peace and liberty. It is true that there can be no 
kinship between the manner of propagating the 
tenets of the Koran and those of the Holy Bible. 
The Koran employs the keen, steel-edged sword, but 
the Bible uses the trowel of persuasive love. It is 
also true that there is a wide difference between a 
preacher defending his own life against the brutal 
assaults of beast-like savages and that of his sub- 
mitting, like Paul, to persecution for the sake of his 
religion. Jesus evidently taught his disciples that 
they must not defend their religion with the sword, 
telling them that when they were persecuted in one 
city to flee into another; saying, also, that whoso- 
ever might lose his life for his sake should find it 
in the world to come. But why our Lord Jesus 
Christ told his disciples to take two swords with 
them into Gethsemane, the dark night of his be- 
trayal, has ever been a moral enigma to me. It is 
unlike any thing in all his life, in all his doctrine. 
It could not have been to defend him, or them, 
against the violence of the mob, for he was born 
for that hour — that destiny; and besides, he needed 
not a sword, or the aid of men, to rescue him from 
their cruel hate, as all power was in his hands. He 
too could have called many legions of angels to have 
delivered him from their hands, as the might of a 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 245 

single angel rendered the guard of a hundred sol- 
diers powerless on his resurrection -morn. Those 
swords must have been intended to teach them a 
symbolized lesson, especially the bold and dauntless 
Peter. When he literally used his sword, and cut 
off the ear of the high-priest's servant, Jesus healed 
the ear, and said to Peter, "Put up the sword," 
clearly showing that his defense was not the object 
had in view when he told him to gird it about him. 
That literal sword must have been designed to im- 
press on their minds the armory of God, with which 
they must be clad to gain victories over the allied 
enemies of his peaceful religion — " the sword of the 
Spirit," with which they were truly divinely armed 
on the memorable Pentecost. 

It is also true that our blessed Lord taught the 
doctrine of non-retaliation of personal insults and 
injuries, saying when "one cheek is smitten, turn 
the other also." But there must be a limit to the 
moral duty of non-resisting submission, where life 
is imperiled, even with civilized contestants, where 
the cause of contest is not religion; but if it is a 
religious persecution. Christians must not unsheath 
the sword in defense of the cross, but submit, even 
to martyrdom, for Jesus's sake, as he did for us. 
But where a man is attacked by a band of lawless 
savages, or a reckless desperado, who is little if any 
better than a savage, does moral duty bind him to 
stand still and quietly yield up his life to their bar- 
barous rage? Shall a man of useful gifts and hab- 
its, an able, pious minister of the blessed gospel, 
unresisting stand still, and let a damaij:ing, brutal 



246 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

wretch, in a moment, destroy his valuable life? 
This interrogative postulate puts the case in a 
strong attitude of contrast, but not stronger than 
true. As it stands, reason revolts against it; and 
both wisdom and duty seem to unite, and say, " Of 
two evils, the less must always be chosen." A good 
man, a useful preacher, had better slay the injurious 
than to be cut off by their hateful fury — that which 
is a curse to society had better be taken out of the 
world, and let that which is a blessing remain. 

But, then, it is granted that all possible methods 
of escape from the dire necessity of taking the life 
of a human creature must first be tried ere doing 
the fatal deed — we must be shut up to the point, 
life for life. At that point the law of civilized ages 
attaches no guilt to the defensive perpetrator of the 
awful deed; and, too, the law of Nature, which is 
inborn in all individual humanity, inspires to the 
protection of life; and that law being natural^ of 
divine planting in humanity, cannot contravene the 
moral code of the same original. Then there must be 
a limit to non-resistance of evil-doing among men, 
as there is a bound to ocean's maddened waves, 
where they rebound in foaming fury to their sky- 
pent home. 

This is the view of Mr. Potter on this delicate 
subject — the view which has guided him in all his 
ministerial career, when in contact with Indians 
or desperadoes. On a subject nearly bordering on 
the wrong, Iji^g just where the fringes of right and 
wrong seem to meet and part — where one ceases 
and the other begins, as the colors of the rainbow 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 247 

do — we shall let the zealous minister speak for him- 
self, by appending just here a letter from his own 
pen, to a Georgian, in answer to certain queries 
relative to his not fearing either Indians or the devil. 
Here is the letter: 

When I embraced religion and joined tlie Church, I felt it a 
duty to use the necessary means to preserve and protect my body as 
well as my soul. The devil being a great evil spirit, his violent as- 
saults are directed against our spiritual and moral natures, and we 
are required to resist him with spiritual agencies. In this sphere, 
it is true, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spir- 
itual. We cannot fight spiritual foes with temporal weapons, nei- 
ther can we war against our earthly enemies with spiritual instru- 
mentalities. We cannot attack Satan with a Winchester gun, nor 
are faith and prayer the divinely-appointed implements to be used 
in a contest with Indians or desperadoes. I think I believe in the 
providence of God as firmly as any man, but he has connected the 
use of means with results in all our natural and spiritual relations. 
He has given us our persons for a noble purpose, and he has given 
us the means to feed, clothe, and protect them against all want and 
violence from men or beasts. When God calls me to travel in a 
region of country infested with lurking savages, my Winchester 
gun and a full belt of cartridges shall ever prevent distressing 
alarms about my safety when meeting a savage foe, feeling that in 
the fearful struggle for life I have some safe means to preserve my 
God-given manhood. Had it not been for my faithful ''Winches- 
ter" my bloody scalp would have long since graced the warrior's 
victory, and heightened the wild glee of the merry dance in some 
distant mountain-gorge. I am not so anxious to wear a martyr's 
crown as to sacrifice my life when God requires me to use means 
to preserve it. It is no evidence of a preacher's want of trust in 
God when he carries a gun to shield his life in the time of peril. 
It would be most sinful presumption not to do so. Indeed, I do 
not carry my gun because I am afraid to die, but because it is a duty 
to use means to preserve life. It is not a sin to resort to the doctor's 
skill and the virtue of medicine to prevent or cure disease ; nor do 
lightning-rods on homes and churches argue a distrust in Provi- 
dence, but are the means of security. A little experience along this 
perilous border may greatly alter the views of tender-conscienced 



248 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

men who only see such scenes at a vast distance from their peaceful 
home-retreats. Time and again have I rode over the ground where 
its sands have been reddened with the blood of many a noble border- 
man ; there their graves mark the scene of their last battle-strife. 
I too have gazed on the scalpless head of the dead and the suffer- 
ing, while the wailing cries of wife and children rent the air around 
the mountain solitudes. 

Such are Mr. Potter's views, and these are the 
all-inspiring motives which governed his ministerial 
conduct along the Indian-infested frontier of West 
Texas for thirteen years of unequaled hardships and 
untellahle perils. 

A little personal experience along the track of the 
savage no doubt would tend to indurate the tender 
conscience of overscrupulous men about a true 
missionary preacher striving to save his life from 
the bloody scalping -knife and the cleaving toma- 
hawk of a brutal Indian. Home -soldiers, who 
never leave their peaceful, carpeted mansion, to de- 
fend their country's name, can well philosophize 
about the tactics used in the bloody battle-day by 
true men and brave hearts; but in all this jum- 
bling of ideas of right and wrong about moral pro- 
prieties and improprieties, it occurs to us that the 
greatest wrong is to be found in the civil govern- 
ment, in not securely protecting its savage-menaced 
borders from barbarous depredations, so that peo- 
ple and preacher might fear no harm in the pursuit 
of their calling. 

Mr. Potter closed up a long, prosperous year, and 
then set out for Conference, with the l^ev. Buckner 
Harris, a distance of more than one hundred miles, 
as will be seen in the following pages. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 249 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Again we shall favor the reader with an interesting 
extract from Mr. Potter's own manuscript: 

"I traveled the Uvalde Circuit in the year 1872. 
The area of the circuit extended west to the town 
of Uvalde. I was invited to visit San Felipe — 
about eighty miles west of Uvalde — a large irriga- 
tion farm on the Pio Grande River, worked by Mex- 
icans and Americans. Most of the eighty miles 
was unsettled, and was traversed by Indians and 
robbers. It was a lonely, dangerous trip for one 
man; but in September I fixed up my Winchester 
and six-shooter, and reached San Felipe in safety. 
I made my arrangements to preach there on three 
days in the week, and at Fort Clark on Sabbath. 
As I was the first preacher who had ever visited 
that region, the people were all agog about preach- 
ing. I preached to a crowded house on Wednes- 
day, Thursday, and Friday, at 11 o'clock a.m., and 
at twilight in the evening. At times the whole au- 
dience was moved to tears. I was about to dismiss 
the meeting, when an okl man slammed his heavy 
fist on the table, saying, 'Hold on; this brother has 
come a long and dangerous road to preach to us, 
and he is entitled to some remuneration.' He then 
passed the hat around. A tall, dark man rose up 
and said, 'I owe that hat four dollars, and the 



250 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

preacher is going home with me, and I will pay it.' 
The collection amounted to twenty-three dollars. 
That night the sad news reached us that a party of 
men had been in a light with Mexicans, and that 
John Pulliam was killed and Tom Evans was mor- 
tally wounded. PuUiam's parents lived in San Fe- 
lipe, but Evans lived in Uvalde. 

" Saturday morning I set out for Fort Clark, a dis- 
tance of thirty-five miles. Within seven miles of 
the fort I was met by a man who had seen my am- 
bulance at a distance, and hurried forward to ask me 
to attend the burial of young Pulliam. He told 
me that Evans had also died in the meantime, and 
would be buried about midnight that night. When 
I reached the grave, I found the parents of poor 
John in inconsolable sorrow over the sudden loss 
of their noble son. After the interment of the un- 
fortunate youth, I learned the following facts about 
the ill-fated young men : The old alcalde of New 
Town, on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River, 
about twenty-five miles below San Felipe, had men 
employed to steal cattle from the Texas side of the 
river and drive over to him, and he slaughtered 
them and sold their hides and meat. About eight- 
een of the Texas boys went over and made an attack 
on the town about morning twilight, when the Mex- 
icans all fled but the old alcalde, who ran into his 
adobe house and fired on them. John Pulliam's 
unruly mule bore him — in spite of all effort to re- 
strain him — right up to the window, when the al- 
calde shot him in the head, and killed him instant- 
ly. They fired volley after volley into the house, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 251 

and supposing they had killed the old trespasser, 
young Evans rode up to the window and looked in, 
when he received a shot through the abdomen. 
They then set fire to the house, on which the old 
magistrate ran out, and received his death-shot. 
They also burned him with his house, and then 
lashed the dead body of Pulliam to a horse, and the 
younger Evans set his wounded brother on a horse, 
and rode behind him to hold him on, and in this 
way they swam the Rio Grande River. But young 
Evans soon died. 

"It was now nearly night, and the men had hid in 
the chaparral, fearing the Mexicans and the United 
States soldiers, and young Evans had no one to help 
him dress his dead brother for the coffin which was 
to be there at midnight from Eort Clark. I got him 
to help me get the dead youth out of the wagon 
and lay him on a plank, and then procured w^ater, 
soap, and towel, from a near ranche, and washed the 
blood and dust from his person, and combed his ra- 
ven locks, when I said, 'Poor Tom! you look as 
natural as when I saw you at the camp-meeting in 
Uvalde a few months ago. But Tom is not here — 
this is the form — the spirit is gone, and without it the 
body is dead. Handsome indeed, when living, but 
soon the grave-worm shall feed on these cold, empur- 
pled lips.' I went into my traveling-trunk, and 
took from it the linen to dress him for the grave. A 
kind lady sent me a clean, white sheet, wdiich I 
folded around his rigid form, and w^e laid him in 
his coffin about midnight. By this time the men 
who had concealed themselves in the thicket had 



252 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

come in, and accompanied us to the burial. A 
3^oung man held a lamp as I read the burial-service, 
and while all nature slept under the gloom of night 
we laid him down to rest beside his fallen comrade, 
on the banks of the Rio Grande. 

" Many fears were entertained of a retaliative raid 
by the Mexicans. I accordingly set out for Uvalde, 
and reached there on Monday night, where I found 
the parents of young Evans in the greatest anguish 
for their lost boy. Many were the sorrowful ques- 
tions they asked me about the last of their unfort- 
unate child. I did not intend to say any thing about 
dressing him, but that was what they wanted to 
hear, especially the mother — her love nestles over 
her loved dead in the grave: how^ he was robed, 
what kind of a coffin housed her dead son, she must 
learn. I told them all. The next morning my 
linen w^as replaced and a twenty-five-dollar overcoat. 
On Tuesday night I preached in Uvalde, and some 
of the good women raised such a shout that the cit- 
izens who had not gone to church thought the Mex- 
icans had made a raid on the town, and that the 
w^ork of slaughter had begun. They all gathered 
up their guns — some jumped out of bed and came 
to the scene in their night-clothes and barefooted; 
when, to their pleasant surprise, the noise was noth- 
ing but notes of praise to God. They were not 
used to that sort." 

We have made this long extract because it shows 
the man. A man's own speech reveals him, and 
circumstances develop character. As disease tests 
the tenacity of physical life, so circumstances try 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 253 

tlie real virtue in the soul. A man may be kind, po- 
lite, and generous, when it costs him nothing, or he 
may be valorous in the time of peace; but the gener- 
ous, polite, and kind qualities in human nature shine 
brightest in the perilous scenes of adversity, and 
true valor glows brightest in the face of dangers. 
One has said that a good deed in a naughty world 
shines as a candle on a dark night. In the detail 
of this tragic story we plainly see three leading 
traits in Mr. Potter's real character: the lineaments 
of the soldier facing the imminent dangers of the 
savage-raided border; the elements of the philan- 
thropist, pitying human griefs, and delving in the 
menial services of dressing the dead for their long 
visit to the tomb; and the genius of the preacher, 
reading the religious formula over the dead at the 
grave, and preaching the gospel of salvation to the 
living — just the man for the place. A rough, saga- 
cious, and daringly chivalrous people — among this 
society he is to show all the tender, valorous virtues 
of religion, and plant deep in the sparse soil among 
rocks and shrubs the seeds of a pure gospel. Grave 
among the more refined, and humble among the 
poor, as one of them, entering into their sorrows 
— made all things unto all men — he could slumber 
on a downy bed, sleep on a blanket on the dirt- 
floored cabin, or pillow on a stone on the desert 
mountain-side. Dear reader, see the sympathetic 
preacher washing the clotted blood from the dead 
young man's body, while his father and mother are 
far away. See him clothing the cold form in his 
own clean linen, then folding it in the winding- 



254 Andrew Jackson Potter. * 

sheet; and then, as a minister of religion, lie com- 
mits dust to dust in the lonely hour of midnight, 
telling to the sad group of living ones about the 
fresh grave of a great, coming day, when all of 
earth's slain shall arise to live forever; and that 
while all the bright stars are looking pityingly down 
upon the mourning crowd, fond angels may have 
clustered there to weep over his tomb for his absent 
mother. 

We once heard of a certain doctor of divinity — 
now of great Methodistic fame — who in early man- 
hood was stationed at Lebanon, Tennessee. Asiatic 
cholera raged there during the time, and many died, 
among them a poor widow, and there was no one 
to entomb her. That preacher dug her grave and 
buried her. If we are correctly informed as to 
these facts, that noble deed shall shine more brill- 
iantly in his diadem of renown than any other 
gem in his crown of honor in the last day. Had 
that young preacher chanced to have met our heroic 
Potter at the bloody w^agon in which lay the blood- 
smeared corpse of Tommie Evans, he would have 
joined him in dressing him for his long home under 
ground. The minister of the Man of Sorrows 
knows how to weep with the bereaved and rejoice 
with the glad. The world is his home, and the hu- 
man race his family, his kindred. Wherever he 
meets man he meets his brother, for whom he has 
a fellow-feeling and a message of love. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 255 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

One appointment of the Uvalde Circuit was in the 
Frio Canon, and a grocery there furnished the 
whisky which caused most of the strifes of the 
neighborhood. The moral citizens organized a de- 
bating society, and proceeded to discuss the relative 
evils of war and intemperance. Mr. Potter was 
appointed principal on the side of intemperance. 
His opponent was a teacher and a lawyer of some 
reading and native wit, with a good stock of com- 
mon sense, and in the course of discussion he in- 
dulged in uncouth specimens of humor and repartee, 
mingled with a hash of argument and dogmatism. 
He said that Mr. Potter's speech reminded him of 
a Dutchman who was trying to scrape the hair from 
the body of a live hog, saying there was more squeal 
than wool. Mr. Potter concluded his speech by 
comparing his antagonist's harangue to a little ne- 
gro boy who was being chastised, saying unto his 
master, who was stripping him, "Pray, massa! O 
pray, massa!" when his master said unto him, 
" Pray yourself, you fool you!" and the little lad 
said, "Massa, let us look to de Lord for de blessin', 
an' be dismissed!" The judge awarded the victory 
to Mr. Potter's cause. Defeat is not a word in his 
vocabulary. From his boyish race -riding to his 
pulpit efforts success crowned his labors. What he 



256 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

did he did to a purpose,- and he put forth all his 
might in the enterprise in hand, acting under the 
motto that whatsoever ought to be done deserved 
doinsf well. He too tried to suit the best means to 
the best ends. There were few books in this fron- 
tier border in those days, and few men of letters 
had ventured so far along the dangerous Indian 
trails, but most of the adventurers were men of 
good mother -wit and energetic enterprise. Men 
without energy and shrewdness do not migrate into 
distant, unsettled regions; they usually live and die 
on the old, trodden fields which have been cleared 
and cultivated by a more industrious ancestr3\ The 
bravest, the most stirring men go to the front, and 
clear away the rude elements of barbarism, and 
open up a wide road for civilization's onward march. 
The first generation growing up under border facil- 
ities must partake of the nature of the unpolished, 
the rude. Cradled and trained up in the unpeopled 
plains, chasing the mustang, the ox, or the wild 
game, inspirits youth with a wild, reckless air, un- 
friendly to a serious life of piety. The little urchin, 
barefooted and bareheaded, begins to learn his trade 
of throwing the lasso, or rope in the pen, among 
calves and lambs, when not more than three years 
of age; and if there are no other little animals to 
" rope," they practice it on each other, or cast the 
sliding-loop over the chair-knob, or bed-post, or any 
other convenient object. By the time they arrive 
at ten years of age they can lariat a horse or an 
ox under speed. There is recklessness about the 
scene. He makes a sliding-loop in one end of his 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 257 

rope — about forty feet in length — the other end is 
fastened to the horn of his saddle; then he coils the 
rope in one hand, swings the loop around his head 
with the other, claps spurs to his pony, and off they 
fly at break-neck speed, in pursuit of the horse or 
ox to be caught. On they go, his lasso sweeping 
round and over his head till getting in throwing 
distance, when he casts the loop ahead of his vic- 
tim, which ensnares its head; then he begins to 
check his pony's speed gradually, till both are 
brought to a halt. In that way a boy can capture 
the wild ox, or the swift-running, affrighted mus- 
tang. Such habits give a daring romance to young 
life unfavorable to a sober, pious cast of mind, and 
greatly weaken the motives of the fear of death, 
and the casualties of life, which often prevent men 
from a headlong rush into sin, or aid them in a ref- 
ormation from evil habits. Such motives have little 
effect on an adventurous frontier life. Texan youth 
on the border are generally orderly at places of wor- 
ship, and respectful to ministers and the aged, but 
have a limited idea of the sanctity of a place of 
worship. As soon as the benediction is pronounced 
they begin to light their cigarettes, by striking a 
match, or by the unextinguished lights. They are 
scarcely capable of sadness — cheerful, merry, and 
exquisitely fond of the charm of the violin and the 
dance. But a great reform is fast changing the 
rude habits into a more settled moral calm. Tem- 
perance societies, lodges, schools, and churches, 
have sprung up everywhere, and their refining in- 
fluences are instilling more soberness of thought 

17 



258 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and staidness of habits into the growing genera- 
tion; while the plow-line is taking the place of the 
lasso, and the school-master is being substituted for 
the saloon-keeper; and the clamorous cry is heard 
all over the land, " Close the bar-rooms." Villages 
and towns whiten valleys and plains; corn and 
wheat -fields, like green plains, spread out their 
broad acres along the rivers and streamlets; and 
the steam-driven trains bring the crowding stran- 
gers into the domain; and a new empire is looming 
up in the border wilderness. Here our pioneer 
preacher drove back the savage and planted the 
germ of empire. His Bible and rifle, his temper- 
ance speeches, his pulpit ministrations, watered and 
nurtured the seed. The harvest is maturing, and 
the reapers are near. A new era is opening. Its 
twilight goldens the skies, and its sprinkled dews 
embalm the sparkling morn. Hail, happy day! Al- 
cohol dethroned, piety and morality holding the 
scepter! then shall mind mount the car of progress, 
and the wilderness blossom as the garden of the 
Lord. But much is yet to be done ere the dawn of 
that happy day. No time is to be lost, no efibrts to 
be relaxed. The battle rages fiercely. The nearer 
the moment of victory the more energetic the last 
struggles of the strong and defiant enemy. 

There is a grand temperance movement through- 
out the domain of our imperial State just now. Our 
Legislature is in session, and more than one hundred 
thousand of the moral and intelligent element of the 
State have memorialized that body to give the citizens 
a chance at the ballot-box to alter the State Consti- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 259 

tution so as to empower the Legislature to pass a 
prohibitory law excluding the manufacture or sale 
of ardent spirits within the limits of the State. 
The bill passed the Senate, but failed in the House 
to get the requisite majority by about six votes; 
and it is said that gold, ifi the interest of the liquor- 
dealers, did that. It was a bold and flas^rant tres- 
pass upon the rights of the State for a few paid 
representatives to lock up the ballot-box against 
their suffrage; but it is a registered deed, and it has 
forever entombed those men from political life. The 
next campaign shall clarion the victory for the great 
humane temperance cause. A noted lecturer has 
immortalized his name by his bold advocacy of tem- 
perance in this State the past decade. His strong 
voice has been heard from the mountain-dells to the 
gulf-washed shore, and from the Sabine to the great 
Rio Grande. His lectures have awakened thouo^ht 
and stimulated a healthy public pulse on the claims 
of the modern temperance cause. They greatly aid 
in troubling the moral waters in their wave-like 
efforts to wash out the stains of liquor from our 
State statutes. He is styled Dr. Young — we know 
not whether it is M.D. or D.D. iTo difference; he 
deserves all honor. We do not go high on organi- 
zations, but instructive lectures, treatises, and jour- 
nalistic editorials, leading up the public mind to the 
sure work of taking temptation out of the way of 
the ruined and the young — legal 'prohibition. 

It is strangely Avonderful to see the undying te- 
nacity with which the lovers of the bowl cling to 
its poisonous contents. They hesitate not to legis- 



260 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

late restrictive rules for quarantines against infected 
vessels, tainted with the contagion of death; but 
liquor-dealers can run into our ports with millions 
of the death-dealing spirits, if they can only put a 
few hundred dollars into the State and County treas- 
uries for the destructive privilege. Better by far 
shut out the insidious poison, which finds its way 
into all counties, towns, cities, and rural dells and 
vales, of the vast continent, and license by taxation 
the ship -captains to land the infected thousands, 
rank wdth the sickening effluvia of "black vomit," 
for that fearful depopulator of malarious coasts and 
cities cannot be made- epidemic in many regions 
of the inland scenes. Of two evils, wisdom says, 
choose the less. Let in "yellow-jack" at a reve- 
nue-jnelding tax, and lock out alcohol. In the next 
two years the wisdom, the virtue, and the human- 
ity of the State will not sleep. They may organize; 
they may look to all the journals of religious and 
moral tone for aid. Many of them have already 
done much; and still they shall hoist the prohibi- 
tion banner. Some hold an even balance, to be 
turned either way the specific gravity of gold may 
determine. The Texas Christian Advocate has led 
the van in the moral enterprise, and the clear- 
sheeted Journal has followed close upon its heels. 
The Journal is yet a babe in years, Avhile the Advo- 
cate is hoary. It has earned a monument at the 
hands of the virtue of the age. It has for several 
years made bold and vigorous attacks on the pala- 
tial gambling mansions and bar-rooms in the cities, 
and impartially arraigned their delinquent ofiicials 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 261 

for failures in the line of duty. Its facile and ner- 
vous pen has awakened an intelligent and healthy 
sentiment which is now stirring the heart of society 
everywhere. Its able reporter, "Cartoon," opened 
a terrific bombardment on the government officials 
at the city of Austin last year, unveiling their dis- 
graceful, intemperate habits, which awakened the 
pride and aroused the indignation of the moral ele- 
ment of the State, which shall neither abate the 
one nor quiet the other until the land is regen- 
erated and purged of its disgraceful and immoral 
stains. Wash its garments! make them clean! 
"Cartoon" wields a caustic quill, and woe unto the 
poor unfortunate bibulous office-holder, or public 
functionary, against whose ugly deeds he may 
chance to point his pen. That pencil, pushed by his 
fingers, leaves along the lines it marks jewels of 
wit and gems of humor, all glowing in the string 
of facts it may narrate. As a newspaper writer, 
his pen is rarely excelled in this age. His pen de- 
serves a diadem of fadeless hue from the jeweled 
fingers of Texas. Its dewy sparklings glisten on 
the pages of the Journal. 

Knowing from painful experience the direful ef- 
fects of intoxicating liquors, Mr. Potter has been a 
bold and steadfast advocate of the innovations 
sought by all the good of the land to handicap the 
heartless monster, and imprison him for life in the 
regions of nonentity. Strife and war, violence and 
blood, cannot cease in the earth until the deranging 
stimulus is banished and buried from the sight of 
man. As long as it is made and sold, men will 



262 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

drink it at all cost and hazard, iu spite of earth and 
heaven. They will keep it at home, carry it on 
trains, in stage-coaches, on ships, in buggies, in 
wagons, on horseback, and drink it in saloons, in 
hotels, and in the gaming-roonis, in the face of laws 
human and divine — at the sacrifice of character, 
wife, babes, property, health, peace, life — in view 
of the yawning grave and an open way to eternal 
woe. No motive reaches the enslaved. Prohibi- 
tion is the remedy. 



, Andrew Jackson Potter. 263 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Conference met at Lockhart this fall, Bishop Kava- 
naugh presiding, and A. A. Killough made presiding 
elder of the San Antonio District, including the 
border frontier. Mr. Potter was not assigned to a 
pastoral charge. Mr. Wesley Smith, seeing that a 
general supply of Bibles along the frontier could 
not be fully accomplished through the agencies of 
the regular auxiliaries, procured from the American 
Bible Society the appointment of Mr. Potter as 
general distributing or sub-agent to disseminate the 
Holy Scriptures all over this vast frontier empire, 
subject to the ratification of the presiding bishop. 
The bishop confirmed the appointment, and Mr. 
Potter spent a dangerous, toilsome, and useful year 
in selling and donating the word of God to the 
hardy border-men of both the English and Spanish- 
speaking population. 

Traveling near the dangerous regions of the Rio 
Grande, where the unscrupulous Mexicans would 
often steal upon travelers while sleeping on the 
ground, and murder and rob them, and knowing 
that he was in danger from that class of men as 
well as Indians, he got him a log of wood about the 
length and size of an ordinary man, and spread a 
blanket on the ground near his ambulance, and laid 
the billet of wood on the blanket, and covered it 



264 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

up so as to resemble a man in sleep; then he made 
his own bed in a thicket near bj, thinking that if 
the Mexicans or Indians made an attack on the log 
it would awake him, and then he would use his 
Winchester on them from his thicket-screen. How 
cool and cautious that man of unequaled valor! 
We now transcribe an incident: 

"The Rev. A. A. Killough was appointed presid- 
ing elder of the San Antonio District, and although 
I had no pastoral charge, yet as my work lay mostly 
in the bounds of his district w^e were often thrown 
together, and had many long and pleasant tours 
along the frontier. 

"His District Conference was held at I^ewton's 
Chapel, on the head of the Atascosa River, in the 
bounds of the Medina Circuit, of w4iich the Rev. 
T. G. Wools was preacher in charge. This was 
Brother Killough's first experience in presiding 
over a District Conference. It Avas suggested by J. 
W. DeVilbiss that, instead of appointing the usual 
committees, all questions coming before the body 
should be acted on by the Conference resolving 
itself into the Committee of the Whole. That 
method often got things into a muddle. After get- 
ting matters tangled and untangled several times, 
Brother Killough declared that it should be the last 
District Conference he should hold in the Commit- 
tee of the Whole; that he could not tell when he 
was in the 'Whole' or in the Conference. 

"There was an excellent old local brother in at- 
tendance at this district-meeting w^ho was noted for 
his long prayers, though of great faith and power. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 265 

Brother Killough had never heard him pray, and 
one night, when there were a number of mourners 
at the altar, he called on him to pray; and when he 
had prayed on to such a length that Killough 
thought that he had covered all the ground, he 
leaned over and whispered to me, 'Potter, is he 
never going to quit?' To which I replied, 'I do 
not know; I do not think he has quite reached the 
closing clause yet.' Sometimes the old brother 
would seem to almost reach the point where you 
would think he was going to say Amen, but then he 
would branch out again, and make another round. 
But at last he said, 'Now, Lord, we submit our- 
selves into thy hands.' Thinking that the long-ex- 
pected Amen Avas just at hand. Brother Killough 
said aloud, 'Amen, amen!' But just then the old 
man thought of something else he had not asked 
for, and he started on another tour, when Killough 
leaned over again and said to me, 'Potter, I take it 
all back, I take it all back' — meaning the Amen. 

"There were a number of penitents at the altar, 
but they were rather a silent lot of mourners, and 
Brother Killough seemed to get a little discouraged, 
and said that those mourners would not have relig- 
ion if you would hand it round to them in a basket; 
and after remaining a few days he left us, and 
Brother Wools and myself carried on the meeting 
with some gracious results. 

"At a quarterly-meeting this year at Uvalde sev- 
eral bar-room men made a private collection, and all 
came to me privately, saying, ' Mr. Potter, we are 
not members of the Church, and we don't owe any 



266 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

thing to those preachers down there: if we owe any 
preacher, you are the man — you have heen preacii- 
ing to us a long time, and this little donation is 
yours; you have done the country good, and this is 
yours' — and they poured twenty -five dollars into 
my hands. I said to them, *I thank you, gentle- 
men, in the name of my wife and children.'" 

Indeed does all this great frontier owe Mr. Potter 
more than wordy expressions of gratitude. The 
great stock-men truly are his debtors in material 
things. His time, his life, his home-pleasures, have 
been seriously taxed for their weal, and the safety of 
their homes and loved ones. " Pay what thou owest." 

We now copy a letter from Dr. West, of Boerne, 
Texas, a man of marked ability and consistent 
piety, and also a neighbor to the Pev. Mr. Potter 
many years. He knew the man, and was all the 
while familiar with his itinerant labors, and the 
field of his operations: 

Rev. H. a. Graves: — Having learned that you are engaged in 
writing the eventful Life of the Rev. Andrew Jackson Potter, my 
neighbor and brother in Christ, please permit me to aid you in 
transmitting to historic fame, for the benefit of the youth of this 
and coming ages, a few of the many acts performed in the drama of 
life by that remarkable man. 

For thirteen toilsome years he has faithfully preached the gos- 
pel all along this Western frontier, looking after the spiritual wel- 
fare of a generous, wild, and adventurous people, reaching from 
San Antonio to the Rio Grande, and to San Saba on the west, going 
to the outpost of American civilization, and sometimes even be- 
yond it. His path has been beset by wild beasts of the mountain 
forest, and the still more subtle and deadly foe, the robber, the 
midnight assassin, supplemented by the savage Indian with his 
cleaving tomahawk and gory scalping-knife, all gleaming in the 
light, while his heart-chilling war-whoop disturbs the stillness of the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 267 

forest vales. But amid all these privations and dangers this heroic 
servant of the Lord has marched bravely on with a heart full of 
love to God and zeal for souls, his Bible in one hand and his trusty- 
rifle in the other. To enumerate all the great hazards, privations, 
hard struggles, hair-breadth escapes, and fruitful victories in his 
wonderful career along these mountains and valleys, would fill the 
pages of a volume. We refer you to the immeasurable amount of 
good resulting from his ministerial labors in this hitherto untilled 
spiritual field. Many scores of sinners have been converted — many 
of them great sinners — Churches have been organized in valleys and 
mountain-dells, and Sabbath-schools to train the mountain-youths, 
which now adorn every large settlement in this vast West ; and in 
their train is seen the temperance organizations striving to close the 
bar-rooms from the young of this day. The Rev. Mr. Potter planted 
the germinal seed, and cultivated the rising crop ; but O who can tell 
" What shall the harvest be ? " It is now yellowing for the reapers. 

One year he not only preached but acted as a colporteur of the 
American Bible Society in distributing the Holy Bible by sale and 
donation — donations made to the poor who were unable to buy. 

In a settlement in Uvalde the Indians made a raid and captured 
every thing belonging to a certain poor widow, and burned her 
cabin, Bible, and all. A generous old gentleman asked Mr. Potter 
to ascertain if that poor woman had a Bible. He visited her, and 
she showed him a few scorched leaves of the old Family Bible which 
had been saved from the torch of the savage. That dear, blessed 
old Bible had been given her in other lands, in her youthful days, 
by the hand of her sainted mother, and she grieved over its loss 
as a loved one dead. The benevolent gentleman had given the 
preacher three dollars and a-half to supply her with another Family 
Bible — a roan, gilt quarto ; and after listening to her plaintive story 
of the old burnt book, the preacher presented her with a beautiful gilt 
volume, in the name of her kind benefactor. Receiving it with hum- 
ble gratefulness, she pressed it to her bosom, and dedicated its re- 
ception with joyful tears, esteeming its sacred contents of more value 
to her than all the perishing treasures of earthly wealth and fame. 

He passed a night at the cabin of another widow who had lost her 
only son, and whose home had been burned by the savages. Going 
to hold prayers, he called for a Bible, when the poor woman gave 
him a hymn-book, saying that the Indians had burned her Bible 
with her home. On leaving the next morning, he gave her a small 



268 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Bible, and meeting a congregation at church, he told the circum- 
stance, whereupon the kind ladies raised ten dollars to purchase 
her a large Family Bible; but the brave and generous preacher, de- 
siring an interest in that investment, aided in the contribution. 
Greatly appreciating her large-type Bible, which she could read 
with ease, she rendered many joyful thanks to the generous donors. 
Giving to the poor is to "lend unto the Lord." That was one of 
Mr. Potter's religious mottoes. 

Passing a school-house near Frio City, he halted, when the chil- 
dren were at play, to show his Bibles and Testaments. Soon a 
crowd were inspecting them. One manly little fellow, on hearing 
the price of a Bible which pleased him to be only fifty cents, in- 
quired if he would wait till he could run home and get the money. 
Seeing his anxiety, the preacher told him to go. He soon returned, 
panting for breath, and bought the sacred treasure, exulting in his 
purchase as if he had heired an empire. Upon inquiry, Mr. Pot- 
ter learned that the noble little boy, on a previous Christmas, had 
bought his two little sisters nice dresses for a Christmas-present out 
of his own honest earnings, instead of throwing away his nickels 
and dimes for candies and fire-crackers, as boys most generally do. 
Texas may yet hear from that manly little boy. Hearing of the 
generous deed of that man-boy, the preacher gave him a Spanish 
Testament, in the name of that grand old national and benevolent 
institution, the American Bible Society, which the lad seemed to 
esteem beyond estimate. That boy may yet play an important part 
on the stage of our Mexican mission-field. 

Mr. Potter visited an encampment of United States soldiers on 
the Sabinal, where his reception was a mingling of jest, jeers, and 
ridicule. He succeeded in selling only five Bibles. Those who 
bought them seemed to have had devout motives ; others quizzed and 
ridiculed them, saying, in sacrilegious mockery, that those pious 
ones would soon evangelize the camp. One old soldier attracted the 
agent's special attention — he approached him, and politely asked if 
he wished to purchase a Bible, when, to his utter astonishment, he 

received the following laconic reply : "A sight more use for a 

fine-tooth comb than a Bible." One time the wit of the preacher 
may have been a little shocked into silence ; though he says that a 
little soap and Adam's liquid warmed might have improved the 
poor old man's wardrobe and person, as well as the light of the 
Holy Scriptures in cleansing the errors of his debased intellect, and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 269 

that. a spiritual combing was needed as well. Poor soldiers 1 hear- 
ing little else but military tactics and Indian raids, under which the 
good in humanity is held in abeyance, while the worst elements are 
cultivated to manufacture them into soldiers, they lose most of 
their ideas of moral virtue. They are more to be pitied than 
blamed. It is to be hoped, however, that those Bibles may be as 
bread on the waters, yielding a harvest of good. 

The priest-ridden Mexicans on this border, far removed from 
priests and Catholic cities, have some chance to read and think for 
themselves. They mostly receive the Bible gladly; some buy it, 
to others it is donated. These Bibles and Testaments which Mr. 
Potter has circulated among them are now doing their evangelizing 
work among tliat people. Even now there are two Protestant Dis- 
tricts already established in the Mexican Border Mission among that 
people, and a great work of evangelization is going on among 
them. 

The foregoing sketches from the pen of Dr. West 
give us a few items in the useful ministerial life of 
Mr. Potter, but the}^ are not a thousandth part of 
his labors in the vineyard of Christ. In their de- 
tail they touch on some of the ruling fiictors in his 
ministerial character: his deep sense of duty in the 
frontier field, going everywhere inside of the lines 
of civilization, and sometimes beyond, to the house- 
less widow, to school-houses, and to meet under the 
shade of timbered mots to preach Jesus to an au- 
dience of rude adventurers — going where no other 
man would go. They show out his earnest tender- 
ness for the poor, ever obeying the apostolic injunc- 
tion, not to forget the poor. We see him in the wid- 
ow's unfloored cabin, praying and donating a copy 
of God's consoling word to make her heart sing for 
joy. We see in him the soldier and the minister — 
his Bible and his rifle — the fellowship of the Bible 
and the sword — a contest between Christianity and 



270 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

barbarism, face to face. Where the wave of civili- 
zation reaches its utmost bound, there he seeks to 
plant the germinal seeds of the Church. As the 
new temple-builders under Zerubbabel held their 
weapons in one hand and wrought with the other, 
so our valorous preacher held his rifle in one hand 
and his Bible in the other while planting the scions 
of religion and liberty along the interlapping bor- 
der of light and darkness, as some intrepid soldier 
bearing the standard of his country's banner into 
the enemy's ranks amidst the flight of death-dealing 
missiles, and planting its victorious ensign in their 
assailing camps. To-day many of those germ-seeds 
are large churches, as great, giant trees spreading 
out their beneficent shades in the long summer-day 
to invite the weary traveler to rest under their cool- 
ing shadows. Andrew Jackson Potter was the first 
ministerial visitor there, preached the first sermon 
there, when the red savage stood on the overlook- 
ing mountain-peaks, and hurled steel-fledged arrows 
at the assembling dwellers of the vale, who had 
gathered to hear the heart-touching story of Him 
who gave his life for man. He counted not his life 
dear unto him only so as to finish the ministry of 
the gospel committed to him in that valley of spir- 
itual gloom. 

The Hon. Mr. Schleicher, representative of the 
Congressional District of West Texas in the Con- 
gress of the United States, when making a speech 
on the floor of the hall of Congress on the bill of 
national protection on the frontier borders of Texas, 
said that the Rev. Mr. Potter and fifteen more like 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 271 

him, of true Texan valor, could do more to protect 
the frontier than all the troops the Federal Govern- 
ment might station along the outpost. This, pos- 
sibly, may have been a slight exaggeration, but it 
involved a great fact: that the adventurous preacher, 
with his rifle and Bible, had already done much to 
push forward and protect both Church and State 
interest in savage realms. 

In view of his frontier intrepidity, a gentleman 
presented him with a fine Winchester rifle, which 
till lately he carried along with his Hymn-book, Dis- 
cipline, and Bible. We write not to-day of things 
done in a dark, north-east corner, nor of a man 
altogether unknown to historic fame. The Indian- 
fighting preacher, the immortalized Potter, is already 
registered on the page of American Methodism, and 
it shall be printed in the future rehearsal of Texan 
story when the next historian writes up the victo- 
ries of her advancing banner. The Federal Gov- 
ernment, the State, the wide border domain, and the 
adventurous stock-men, owe that zealous man more 
than a simple debt of grateful remembrance, which 
is not fully liquidated when they have spoken kindly 
of his labors and triumphs, and have named their 
most promising sons after Andrew Jackson Potter. 
The terror of his name and faithful gun have 
shielded their flocks and herds from the ravages 
of the real and the pretended savage, especially 
the latter, as well as their homes and families. He 
now goes and returns in peace from his kingdom- 
like district without his Winchester. 



272 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Mr. Potter was preaching one Sunday night in a 
certain frontier-town, when a rather amusing inci- 
dent occurred. The place was thickly set with bar- 
rooms filled with gamblers and drinking-men; and 
there was a terrible racket in town that night. He 
was preaching in the upper-room of a store-house. 
The steps leading to the room went up from the 
street. The house was thronged with hearers. He 
was preaching about Paul and Silas in the jail at 
PhiUppi. A drunken man passing the street, hear- 
ing the noise above, made his way up to the room, 
and after listening a short time, said, " Sir, I ask 
your pardon; but do you think there ever was a 
Christ on earth?" The humorous preacher replied, 
" Sir, I am not now discussing that question — I am 
talking about two preachers being in jail, just where 
all such drunken scoundrels as you are ought to be, 
and where you will be in ten minutes if the sheriff 
will do his duty." The deputy arose, summoned a 
young man to assist him, and started down the 
stair-way, but the inebriate refused to go. They 
threw him down, and then proceeded to lock him 
up in the jail -house. On returning, the deputy 
walked near to the stand, and said, "Mr. Potter, 
that man is in jail, sir." " Thank you, gentlemen," 
said the preacher. "You can turn him out in the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 273 

morning, as he may then be sober. Please to take 
your seats." The service ended in order; but we 
are here reminded of the cool, unembarrassed mind 
of the preacher, and his Irish-like readiness of ap- 
propriate replies. No circumstances, however ex- 
citing and alarming, or amusing, disturb him, or 
arrest his chain of thought in the pulpit. Besides 
his natural mental bent toward ready repartee, he 
w^as strictly drilled to calm and skillful thought in 
all the hazards of life and limb in his earliest days, 
and in the fearful perils of Indian warfare, where 
preservation of life itself required the quickest and 
the most dispassionate reasoning. Here he had 
long years of schooling to acquire a fixed habit of 
holding the excitable elements of man in subjection 
to calculating thought, which of all others is the 
most valuable trait of a true soldier. Dispassionate 
coolness in scenes and moments of alarm is the 
main factor in real valor; it is an effectual safe- 
guard against the wild, ruinous rage of panic. 
Panic is senseless, blind; it know^s no strategic 
plans for safety; it leaps over the yawning preci- 
pice, and runs unwittingly into the dangers it seeks 
to avoid. But the brave soldier's eye of collected 
thought sees the narrow path of escape from dan- 
ger, or coolly yields submission to the inevitable. 
These noble soldier elements, acquired in early life, 
Mr. Potter has retained as a soldier of the cross, 
where no less skillful intrepidity is demanded to 
make a valiant hero in the armies of Him w^ho came 
to conquer a rebellious world — who said that he who 
might cowardly seek to save his life by panic-fright 
18 



274 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

should lose it. Never really disturbed by any agi- 
tating surroundings, he moved on in the pulpit and 
along the prairies as if in the land of peace and 
quiet. Yet he was not insensible of dangers, but 
ever coolly cautious to avoid or to meet them. At 
these military outposts the state of society about 
them is wretched in the extreme. Made up of 
tradesmen and gamblers, who seem not to care for 
the virtues and benefits of civilized life, their great- 
est aim appears to be to gain a living, or to gather 
in money without manual labor, or some honest 
method of getting through life. These gamblers 
collect there to win the poor soldier's earnings, and 
those traders gather there to supply the gamblers. 
They are not wanted there to furnish the army — the 
commissaries do that. So the class of men center- 
ing about these posts is made up of those having 
little or no pure moral motives, being controlled 
mainly by avarice and an aversion to toil. These 
were the men to whom Mr. Potter preached, for the 
most part, at these distant border stations. Among 
these abandoned men he is to plant the seed of a 
gospel Church. The gospel is to them as to the 
refined sinful nabob housed in his palace, and gloat- 
ing in luxurious ease on his dishonest gains. Jug- 
glers, swindlers, and the stealthy robber, are all 
alike subjects of reformatory grace. The apostles 
of our universal Saviour proclaimed salvation to 
the harlots and smugglers in their day. Simon 
Magus was baptized, and the books of the Satanic 
art of jugglery, constituting a great library, were 
cast into the flames. Jesus issued his enduring 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 275 

mandate, " Go ye into the streets and lanes of the 
city, into the highways, hedges, and ditches." Yes, 
gather in the outcast, the vile, the low, the poor, 
and wash them in the font of regeneration, and 
clothe them with the wedding-garment, clean and 
white, and set them up on high with the redeemed, 
with a new song, " Unto him that hath loved us, 
and w^ashed us from our sins in his own blood, unto 
him be glory." In the last day of sainted corona- 
tions some cleanly-robed immortal shall sit in that 
holy throng from the Texan - populated border, 
through the earnest ministrations of our pioneer 
soldier of Jesus, who died, to save the worst — the 
chief of sinners. 

Before concluding this brief chapter, we call at- 
tention to the callous heart and little regard for the 
value of human life on the border, by soldiers, and 
civil officers, and other men as well. When the 
drunken man did not want to go to jail, the sheriff 
pitches him down the flight of steps leading from 
the upper-room to the ground. Regardless of limb 
or life, apparently in a good-humored way, he throws 
him on the hard earth as if he were a stone or a 
billet of wood. That was heartless cruelty — it par- 
took of the nature of heathen barbarism to the 
helpless, the prisoner. Cruelty to the captured is 
incompatible with the moral sentiment of a Chris- 
tian age. A reformation among the civilized gov- 
ernments of the world as to the treatment of con- 
victs in prison-life is a moral necessity. "Man's 
inhumanity to man makes countless thousands 
mourn," in all grades and spheres of life, in the 



276 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

culprit's dungeon as elsewhere. Man is not a mere 
animal; he has a soul of great faculties, capable of 
a deep degradation or a high elevation, ranging at all 
times within the possible limits of a thorough ref- 
ormation. The design of penalty of law, of prison- 
life, is not malignant — not to torment the subject, 
but to prevent farther trespass, and to reform. De- 
privation of liberty for life is a competent punish- 
ment for all crimes, save that of murder, for which 
the moral law demands life, for life. Humanity is 
due all captured, imprisoned violators of law. 

We must also invite attention to the almost total 
disregard of the civil institutes on drunkenness and 
gambling about the military outposts. These rank 
gardens of vice flourish under the strict eye of the 
military, and no officer, civil or military, seems to 
regard their presence as an infraction of law or good 
order. There is a dead fl}^ in the Government oint- 
ment-can just here. Drift-wood floats out on the 
margins of swollen rivers, so the drift and debris of 
society incline to lodge around the border outposts. 
But law should be enforced on the extreme limits 
of organized governments as faithfully as in the 
great, tumultuous centers of commerce and trade. 
Lawlessness there breeds the contagion and infec- 
tion of disloyalty, and sends their poisoned virus 
back from the extremity into the center of life, 
mingling its sickening effluvia with all the life-blood 
of the body politic. Disobedience to law, like the 
infectious gangrene, is dangerous anywhere, even 
on the remotest extreme in nature and in political 
economy. Law — order, peace; no law — confusion, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 277 

terror, carnage. These constitute opposite tripar- 
tites. Law and gospel join hands. Law obeyed 
becomes gospel in results; gospel disobeyed turns 
into law, and condemns the guilty. The preacher 
and the civil officer mutually aid each other. The 
preacher represents the gospel, and the civil officer 
personifies the law. Religion gives the disposition 
and the motives to obey law, but the Government 
carries the penalty in its hand, and says to the un- 
willing as well as to the loyal, "Thou shalt." Re- 
ligion persuades, law compels. Religion requires 
both internal and external conformity to law, but 
simple law exacts mere outward rectitude. Where 
good laws are strictly maintained religion has an 
open field, but it works under disadvantages where 
law is defied. Most of Mr. Potter's ministerial life 
has been passed in regions where law held a slack 
rein. 



278 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Several years ago, before Indian raids ceased in 
the upper Guadalupe Valley, Mr. Potter was travel- 
ing alone on horseback one quiet evening along the 
road running near the river between Centre Point 
and Comfort, when some unknown stock-man, on 
the top of the mountain verging on the road, under- 
took to frighten him with a make-believe Indian 
attack upon him. At that time the sure-enough 
Indians did really come into that region each full 
moon, and sometimes often er, and all settlers and 
travelers were duly armed and on the outlook. So 
the stock-man on the elevation concluded that he 
could have the pleasure of seeing the valiant preach- 
er try the speed of his noble horse, by making him 
think that the Indians were upon him. In those 
days he rode a superior and fleet horse of the hardy 
half-breeds, which could scent the Indian as the 
w^ild ass snuffeth the scent of water from the plains 
of the wilderness, and had in moments of peril car- 
ried his valiant rider with dashing speed from the 
precincts of danger. Seeing the preacher riding 
quietly alone in the valley below, the man above 
got near a thicket of scrub timber where he could 
conceal himself, and tried to startle his unsuspect- 
ing traveler by mimicking the awful Indian war- 
whoop yell. Hearing its terrifying echoes falling 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 279 

along the vale from peak to peak, he drew his re- 
volver, examined and found it all right, then looked 
in all directions to find the source of that startling 
yell, but could see no one. Presently that frightful 
clarion broke on the silence of dell and vale, ring- 
ing round from curve to bend, and crag of mount- 
ain-heights. He looked, and saw the person of a 
man on horseback, half hidden in the brushwood 
on the earthen pile above him, whom he took to be 
the front leader of an Indian squad. Knowing that 
he could advance and fire on him, and get out of 
the way of danger by the speed of his horse, ere 
the Indians could descend into the valley for pur- 
suit, he reined in his warlike steed, whirled his re- 
volver round his head, gave a loud, menacing squall, 
and dashed on toward his assailant, when the white 
man wheeled out to show the trick he was trying 
to play off on the preacher, and hurriedly rode out 
of danger; but it well-nigh cost him a taste of the 
leaden hail from the preacher's well-tried revolver. 
The event of the Indian mimic's efifort to frighten 
the preacher to see him run ever sealed the stock- 
man's mouth on the subject, as it has never been 
found out who the make-believe Indian might have 
been. 

In 1873 Mr. Potter was traveling alone, return- 
inofto his mountain-home from the Uvalde Circuit. 
He was on horseback, driving a mule and a horse 
yoked together by a rope tied round the neck of 
each. When about fifteen miles out from the set- 
tlements, he stopped to " noon it," in Texas phrase, 
which is simpl}^ to rest, eat a lunch, and grass your 



280 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

horse. The place was a prairie, dotted here and 
there with small mots of live-oak timber and under- 
brush thick enough to conceal any one. He had 
unsaddled and "staked his horse to grass," which 
is to tie one end of a long rope to the horse's neck, 
and fasten the other end to a tree, stub, or bush, so 
that the horse can get his dinner by grazing; and 
just as he lifted his canteen to his mouth to take a 
drink of water, bang w^ent a keen rifle-crack, and a 
bullet whizzed by his head. Thinking it might be 
huntsmen shooting at game, w^ho had not seen him, 
he cries out, "Ho, there! do not shoot this way!" 
But no one answered, which was in evidence that 
it was robbers or Indians, hidden in or beyond the 
thicket, from which came the report and the ball, 
about one hundred yards distant from the preacher. 
By this he knew that something was w^rong; that 
he was in imminent danger from some unknown 
hands; and being ever fruitful in precautions, he 
went to his horse to bridle and mount, and enter 
another thicket nearby, to give him an equal chance 
in the strife of balls, which he then began to antic- 
ipate; but as he was bridling his horse, bang went 
another gun from the same direction, the ball cut- 
ting the tip of a bush near to the preacher's head. 
It was a dangerous moment. He then pointed his 
" Winchester " in the direction of the mot, and cried 
out, " Come out of that thicket and fight me like 
men, you cowardly scamps!" at the same time 
lying down in a little gulley just deep enough to 
shield his body, awaiting a dashing charge from his 
cowardly foes, but no advance was made. Remain- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 281 

ing there about one hour, he arose, saddled his 
horse, rode all round and inspected the premises, 
but finding no one, he drove on his coupled stock, 
and reached the settlement unharmed. 

Possibly it may have been a small band of poorly- 
armed Indians who in this case fired the two shots 
at Mr. Potter from the far side of the thicket, and, 
on finding him armed with a " Winchester," took 
alarm, and sped away into some mountain-dell. An 
Indian is said never to go into a thicket in the ter- 
ritories of a white man. The greater probabilities 
are, however, that it was a small squad of scantily- 
armed robbers of Mexicans or Americans, who saw 
that they had attacked the wrong man, and con- 
cluded that the better part of valor would be to 
take their heads out of the range of that dangerous 
rifle, and hastily fled to a sure retreat. 

How wonderful the many escapes from danger, 
in moments of the greatest peril, in the life of our 
strange hero! One is made to think him not born 
to be cut with the madman's knife, hit wdth bullets, 
or smitten w^ith an arrow. Ever an angel's electric 
shield is over his head, to turn away the arrow's 
point, or glance the bullet from his head. " Hurt 
not mine anointed." 



282 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

Mr. Potter was returned to the Uvalde Circuit in 
1873, and the region of country it embraced was 
infested with a number of men called desperadoes — 
a kind of fearless, reckless men, who have little or 
no regard for life or character — for the most part 
refugees from other States, and fugitives from jus- 
tice — desperate men. But that day is now passed 
with Texas. The speedy methods of travel and 
rapid manner of transmitting news, by railroads 
and telegraphs, and the ceaseless influx of immigra- 
tion of a class of intelligent, moral, and enterpris- 
ing peoples, have initiated a state of society unsuita- 
ble for the stay of lawless men, and the mountain 
fastnesses of Mexico are now their sheltering re- 
treats from law and justice. 

Among that class of madmen there was a cer- 
tain youth who made bold pretensions to high an- 
tecedents, claiming to be the son of a governor of a 
great State, while he fearlessly stated that he had 
killed a man in said State, and had made his escape 
to West Texas; which perhaps was true, as the se- 
quel may show. In Texas he was quite dissipated, 
living a corrupt and vicious life. He was regarded 
as a dangerous young man ; and all who knew him 
dreaded a personal rencounter with him, expecting 
in that event to have to kill the desperate youth, or 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 283 

fall a victim to his murderous rage. That daring 
young man became enamored with one of West 
Texas's charming beauties, and notified some of her 
friends of his earnest intentions of addressing her. 
Man, in all conditions of life, civilized or uncivil- 
ized, in the deepest depths of infamy and shame, 
may be attracted by gentle woman's charms. As 
the sweet concord of melodious sounds thrill all the 
tender chords of the soul, so innocent beauty's 
" witching smile " embalms the roving heart of rest- 
less man. She becomes to him the attractive cen- 
ter of all his aims and hopes. That imbruted youth, 
w^ith a soul immersed in angry passion's bloody 
waves, was arrested by sight of the native adorn- 
ments of innocent virtue, redolent with the glow of 
youthful woman's charms. Surely there must be 
some occult magnetic attractive force betwixt oppo- 
site characters of the youthful sexes. It is often 
seen that young men of the most debasing habits 
are captivated by the highest types of womanly vir- 
tue, and many a dove-like creature readily unites 
her temporal, and also her eternal, destiny with a 
degraded debauchee, a/ac simile of her own opposite. 
Perhaps an undefined feeling of romance may some- 
times lead to such strange alliances, or may be inno- 
cent womanhood, in the full gush of inexperienced 
youth, may admire the gay, the reckless activities 
of young manhood. We know too that aftection 
and passion are eyeless — blind: only reason sees 
the light of character, and weighs it in the scale of 
merit. 

Mr. Potter, being a special friend to the young 



284 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

girl and her family, was urged by the sense of duty 
to advise her as to the great risk of uniting her life 
with such a desperate youth. Where the path of 
duty lay, the preacher stopped not to think of the 
perils and dangers which might lurk along it, and 
had no sense of fear in the face of the greatest 
causes of alarm. A sure conviction of duty was his 
guide — it nerved him to action in all the strifes of 
his ministerial life. Whether the flattered girl in- 
formed her admirer of the preacher's counsel, or 
whether it reached him through other channels, we 
are not informed; anyway, it reached his ears, and 
he did not hesitate to utter some serious threats in a 
pnblic manner, that he should surely " shoot it out " 
with the preacher when they might chance to meet. 
He seemed greatly enraged ; and, knowing his char- 
acter, great excitement prevailed in the community 
as to the safety of the preacher. But the preacher 
was not of a timid species. Hearing of the mur- 
derous threat of the pugnacious youth, he took the 
precaution to arm himself with two good pocket- 
pistols. Not long after, they met at a private house. 
The family was greatly excited, expecting a fatal en- 
counter between the preacher and the offended young 
man. The youth had a cavallard of horses penned 
near to the place, and he walked out to the pen and 
returned with a " six-shooter " belted to his side, but 
seemed intimidated in the brave preacher's presence, 
but finally said to the preacher that he had been want- 
ing to see him for sometime, and that he had some 
horses in a " corral" just out there, and invited him 
to go out there with him. In the early twilight, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 285 

when night's dnsky curtams began to drape the 
mountain-heights and shade the deeper vales, side 
by side walked the dauntless preacher and the men- 
acing young man. But the cautious preacher's 
keen, eagle-like eye was on every motion of his an- 
tagonist as they slowly strode away into the deep- 
ening mountain-shades. At length the young man 
said, "I guess we have gone far enough. Mr. Pot- 
ter, I do not wish to take advantage of your de- 
fenseless position. I am armed, and you are not." 

Mr. Potter quickly replied, " Mr. P , you are 

mistaken, sir; if it be a question of arms, I am 
armed to my full satisfaction." Here the courage 
of the pugilistic youth seemed to desert him, and 
he said, "I^o, Mr. Potter, it is not a question of 
arms — I only wanted to have a friendly talk with 
you. I wish to retract certain threats I have made 
regarding you, and to apologize for the same." He 
said that he was greatly enraged on hearing of the 
preacher's interfering with his courtship, and made 
those threats in the heat of passion, but on calm 
reflection he saw that the preacher was right; that 
he had only discharged his duty to a friend; that 
he knew he was not qualified to be the husband of 
such a noble woman, though he was devoted to her. 
To all this the preacher remarked that he was truly 
glad that he had at last taken so sensible a view^ of 
the subject; and although he never desired or sought 
difficulties with any man, yet there were men with 
whom, if nothing but a personal encounter would 
satisf}^, he would measure ofi' distances, ^nd " shoot 
it out" with them; yet he would not put his life on 



286 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

an equality with him, as his habits had rendered 
him hurtfal instead of beneficial to society; and 
that if he had first asked him if he were armed, he 
should have shot him in the twinkling of an eye, 
regarding his own life as of some worth to the 
world, and having heard of the youth's menacing 
determination. The dispirited youth then said that 
the preacher was right — that he regarded him as a 
Christian gentleman, and that he intended to return 
to his native State, stand his trial, and return to 
Texas, settle down, and make a good citizen. The 
preacher advised him to carry out that good inten- 
tion. 

Thus ended the dreaded interview, but how 
changed the lion! When Daniel was in the lions' 
den an angel tamed them into lambs till the coming 
morn. The quieted young gent afterward said to 
some of his associates that it was his intention to 
" shoot it out " with the preacher, but that when he 
mentioned the subject to him, he gave him such a 
piercing look that his purpose failed him ; that he 
could easier face the mouth of a Winchester gun 
than that awful glance of the preacher's eyes. The 
eagle, in his arrow-like flight after his prey, never 
held a steadier, keener eye on his intended victim, 
than our determined preacher when he fastened the 
wondrous, fiery orb through w^hich his incensed 
soul looked on him who had stirred his ire by 
wrong-doing. Conscious guilt can no more endure 
their fixed gaze than the eye itself can look on the 
unclouded*sun. We learn that the fugitive youth 
did return to the scene of his crime, stood a trial, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 287 

but put an end to his own life by cutting his throat, 
seeking relief from the results of sin in this life by 
immersing himself in its dread effects in the bound- 
less future. Surely the road of evil - doing is a 
rugged one in this world, and virtuous habits are 
the better, if there is no hereafter to good and bad 
men. But let us "awake to righteousness, and sin 
not." 

As a faithful biographer we must state facts^ re- 
gardless of theory or character; but when character 
or theory get in the way of facts, they must take 
care of themselves. As a moralist, writing for the 
instruction and edification of mankind in the ele- 
ments of the true and the good — the real moral phi- 
losophy — we must not trench upon the true Chris- 
tian rudiments of a scriptural morality, the only 
infallible standard of human conduct in the present 
life. Scriptural casuists may be inclined to censure 
the conduct of the dauntless preacher in the prem- 
ises in the foregoing story; but it admits of great 
palliation. An error of action in one case may 
not be an error in another. The habit of self-pro- 
tection was of life-long standing with the preacher. 
At ten years of age he was thrown out into a con- 
testing world upon his own resources for a living 
and for protection, having spent all his early man- 
hood in soldier-life. Always kept on the guard for 
defensive self-security, it was fixed in him to pro- 
tect his own life. Besides, the licentious youth had 
placed himself in the attitude of a dishonorable, 
a murderous, and a lawless character. Lastly, at 
that time there was little security in appealing to 



288 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the officers of law for protection against such char- 
acters. They were, indeed, lawless. Sheriffs had 
been slain outright in tyring to arrest such desper- 
ate men in other parts, till sheriffs, bailiffs, and ju- 
rors, seemed to fear them. If arrested, they escaped 
the penalties of law by a sham sort of trial, "jail- 
delivery," or forfeiture of bond; and then in some 
ambush take the life of their informant, and flee 
into parts unknown. If then the preacher had ap- 
pealed to the law for security of life against the mur- 
derous menaces of a reckless man, he would have 
been in great uncertainty of getting it, and in the end 
may have fallen a victim to his antagonist's demo- 
niacal fury, in open combat, or from some hidden 
retreat in the mountain solitudes. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 289 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The vast territory of Mason District was formally 
included in the San Antonio District, and when the 
Indian-fearing presiding elder of that district or the 
agent of the American Bible Society came into the 
mountain regions, they called on Mr. Potter and 
his faithful " Winchester " to pilot and protect them 
through its dangerous gorges. American settle- 
ments were far apart, being mostly confined to the 
water-courses, and the wide, unsettled belts inter- 
vening were infested with marauding Indian bands. 
Across these unpeopled zones Mr. Potter was the 
pilot and the shield. Below we copy an account of 
one of those trips to guide Dr. Walker, a presiding 
elder of the then San Antonio District: 

" I have just returned from a tour with the Rev. 
J. G. Walker, P. E. of the San Antonio District, 
along the line of his frontier appointments, having 
held quarterly-meetings at Centre Point, in the Kerr- 
ville Circuit, and in the Sabinal and Uvalde Circuits. 
The Bandera Mission Quarterly Conference was held 
in connection with mine at Centre Point; but it will 
be held separately in the future. Although our visit 
to the several-named places was not marked with 
any revival movements, yet we can say, to the praise 
of God's grace, that we had many sweet seasons of 
divine worship. Crowded congregations assembled 
19 



290 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

at every appointment, eager to hear the word of life. 
Dr. Walker preached to them with the divine unc- 
tion on his ministrations. The Quarterly Confer- 
ences were closely inspected. All hands seemed 
inclined to meet their obligations to sustain all the 
interests of the Church along this border. Nearly 
all this region is Methodist territory. Methodist 
preachers were the first to enter this frontier field 
for many years ; but such has lately been the rapid 
increase of population that important changes in 
the work are imperative. Bandera Mission has al- 
ready been taken from the Kerrville Circuit. Uvalde 
is a growing town of much importance to the Church. 
For a number of years it has been like a faint sun- 
beam struggling to penetrate thick clouds, but now 
we look up for a brighter dawning. The Sabinal 
Circuit is now set oiF from the Uvalde; so you see 
how the field enlarges. Uvalde has a melancholy 
history; it has been the scene of many a fearful and 
bloody tragedy; but a great change has come over 
it. It is now one of the most civil and respectable 
towns in the great West Texas. At its first quar- 
terly-meeting the people anticipated our arrival, and 
we found Brother Denton, with his signal-fires blaz- 
ing high, looking out for us. The house could not 
seat the congregations. Several joined the Church. 
On Sunday night there w^as a great shout in the camp. 
One young man was converted — said to be the first 
ever converted in Uvalde. May it be the first sheaf 
of a great harvest! " 

This brief sketch will give the reader some con- 
ception of the status of religion in this border-land 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 291 

the first of the present decade, and of the diocesan- 
like toils of Mr. Potter, and the beloved confidence 
reposed in hira by his brethren. Indeed, all West 
Texas is proud of her toiling, dauntless Potter. He 
labors on his own circuit, and guides and helps his 
superiors in ofiice in their perilous way. He is at 
home with them, and at home when alone wending 
his pathless way to the cabin of the hardy pioneer. 
When w^e read the itinerant missionary life of 
Robert Xewton, of England, in the days of our youth- 
ful ministry, we thought»him almost illimitable in 
labors in modern times. His field of operations lay 
within the limits of an enlightened empire; vast mul- 
titudes of the refined and wealthy, of the purest ele- 
ments of civilized life, w^aited on his ministry in 
villa and city, in proud-domed religious temples; 
palaces adorned with the splendors of art sheltered 
him at night, and easy-going wheels carried him 
from place to place by day — invited and greeted by 
fond friends and true lovers of Jesus, at all times 
and places. ITot needing stafl:' or scrip, his wants 
supplied by generous hands, he moved on in his 
grand enterprise for the Church of Jesus — a man 
of great zeal, and deserving all honor for his w^orks' 
sake. But the man of whose mission-life this little 
volume speaks, gives a counterpart of labors; his 
sphere of action the vast, untilled domain of the 
mountains of West Texas, stretching over an area 
nearly as large as the English Isle itself; not cov- 
ered with the fruits of Christian civilization — peo- 
pled only here and there with rude adventurers, 
living in tents, huts, and cabins; few villages, widely 



292 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

separated; few public roads — only stock-paths and 
Indian trails — leading through valleys and over 
mountain -ridges where wheels can never go; no 
churches — worship conducted under shading mots, 
in private cabins, public shops, or store-rooms; few 
sheltering cottages at nightfall, where merrj^ hearts 
tell of happy days gone by, or of hopeful ones to 
come, but the cold earth for his bed, on the bosom 
of the vast, unsettled prairie, or in the lone, wild 
hills, where the prowling wolf trots by, or the fierce 
night-hawk screams andsyv^oops down upon his prey. 
"No easy-going cushioned coach to bear him gently 
on in that early day; but his proud, trusty, mission- 
horse carries him over the prairie's wide solitudes, 
and the steep, rocky mountain sides. Few friends 
to hail his welcome approach ; but the savage In- 
dian seeks his horse and scalp, and the robber his 
purse. His rifie and Bible in hand, onward he goes 
in the face of all toil, suffering, and danger, to meet 
not the great, the rich, the good, but to meet men 
in a semi-savage state; men without a religion, with- 
out churches, without a Sabbath ; men in grog-shops 
and gaming-rooms; men armed with butcher-knives 
and pistols — a heterogeneous mass of men from all 
the nations and islands of the globe; men too, in 
soldier-life, who can think of little else than battles 
and blood. In this agglomerated concrete of fall- 
en humanit}^ he is to plant the seed of the future 
Church, the growing Church of to-day. Wherever 
a group of men were found in that earl}^ day, from 
the Colorado to the Rio Grande, along the great 
frontier belt of three hundred miles, there the dar- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 293 

iiio^ preacher went to tell the story of that won- 
drous grace which had saved him from the drunk- 
ard's grave and the gambler's hell. That good old 
song was his favorite, "Amazing grace, how sweet 
the sound!" He suno: it in the cono:re2:ation and 
along the way; when alone, he made the air vocal 
with its sweet strains, when none but the forest-birds 
and wild beasts could hear its heart-felt melodies. 

Late one afternoon he reached a military outpost, 
where a quiet village of several hundred traders had 
settled, and, it being the time to pay otf the soldiers, 
quite a crowd of gamblers had congregated there 
from other posts to game with them for their money. 
Many of them knew Mr. Potter, having met him 
at other posts, and some of them had been with him 
in the dark days of his gaming-life. Seeing him 
coming near, they recognized him, and gladly hailed 
him in their earnest rude style : " Ha ! yonder comes 
the fighting parson.-" "Hold on there, old fel." 
"And to be sure, we hope ye are well." "An' can't 
ye give us a relegious send-ofF to-night — that is, a 
sarman?" "I shall with pleasure, gentlemen, if 
you will provide a place, and hear me civilly." " You 
bet we will be all eyes and ears." The open gallery 
of a saloon-man's dwelling was selected as the place 
of worship, and the saloons were robbed of their 
seats; benches and chairs from private dwellings 
also made up the preparations for worship. The 
place was literally stocked with drinking and gam- 
bling-rooms, and the soldiers' camps, near at hand, 
altogether made up quite a little city far out in the 
wild Indians' broad domain. The news was soon 



294 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

spread in store, saloon, and tent, of the arrival of 
the strange, eccentric preacher, and at an early hour 
some began to assemble, and there being no bell to 
tell the hour of beginning the service, a man made 
proclamation as follows : " yes, yes, O yes ! there 
now, do you hear? There is to be some spang-up 
religious racket on Mr. F.'s gallery, by the ' fighting 
parson,' a reformed gambler, but now a celebrated 
gospel sharp. The racket will begin in fifteen min- 
utes. All you old rummers, and whisky-guzzlers, 
and card-sharpers, come out and mend your ways, 
or you will all go to hell as sure as you are born." 
The preacher was in the prime of his manhood and 
the flower of his ministry, and his stentorian voice 
made all the attentive crowd hear his message of 
mercy and warning, and no doubt some good seed 
was sown in productive soil. 

The style of the proclamation just narrated indi- 
cates the rude character of society at most places 
visited by Mr. Potter at an early day along the ex- 
treme border. No doubt there were some gentler 
natures mingling with the huge mass, as a few 
grains of good wheat are mixed with the chaff and 
defective ones; but the ruling elements of society 
were of a crude and unrefined species. Among them 
he must mix, share their hospitality, listen to the 
village and neighborhood gossip, and the little jeal- 
ousies and envies peculiar to a people limited in their 
spheres of reading and means of information. He 
had but little time for reading himself. The im- 
mense field over which he had to travel occupied 
most of the time he was not in the pulpit. He read 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 295 

when an opportunity ofierecl. He read some, but 
thought much. He digested what he read, and util- 
ized it in the pulpit. He had the gift, by nature, of 
a keen perception, a strong memory, a vivid imag- 
ination, a good stock of wit and humor, a marked de- 
cisiveness of character, and an unconquerable will 
where the right was plainly involved. He " shunned 
not to declare the whole counsel of God " to friends 
or foes, yet he was polite and kind to all men in social 
life. He seemed conscientiously devoted to one 
great work — that of reforming the bad and building 
up the good of mankind: to this end he preached, 
held all sorts of meetings (protracted and old-time 
camp-meetings), organized Sunday-schools and tem- 
perance societies, and lectured and debated on the 
great temperance question. He was well-nigh a 
stranger at home. His wife said that she had given 
him to the Church, and tried to manage the home. 
He was truly "in labors often," and he desired not 
to build on any other man's foundation. He had a 
kingdom of labor of his own on the vast border, 
and a new Christian empire in that region is the 
fruit of his toils. 



296 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

BoERNE is a beantifnl little German town on the 
head-waters of the pretty Cibolo, and is the county- 
site of Kendall County, Texas. The mountain- 
home of Mr. Potter is within four miles of its out- 
side limits. It is closed in on all sides by mountain- 
points and long rides, save along the hard-trodden 
stage-road leading from San Antonio to Fredericks- 
burg, and the military outposts along the Indian 
border, and also a few neighborhood roads leading 
out into the little settlements among the hill-coves 
and small creek-valleys. 

German towns are generally well supplied with 
spirits and malt beers, and men of drinking habits, 
in passing, often get intoxicated and farry a time to 
indulge in draughts of the stimulants. A kind of 
itinerant desperado — a strange, reckless man — halt- 
ed at Boerne a few years since, and Mr. Potter Avent 
to town the same day. The unknown man, being 
excited by liquor, was passing up and down the 
street, cursing the Dutch, and throwing rocks at 
them, and ran his horse along the main street in 
great speed in defiance of all the citizens. While 
Mr. Potter was riding homeward that furious crea- 
ture ran by him twice, and to avoid contact with 
him he alighted and called at a friend's house on 
the street; but the aggressive man rode around the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 297 

house a time or two, then hitched his horse and 
rudely walked on the porch where Mr. Potter and 
two ladies were seated. Taking a seat, he began 
asking impertinent questions, then used a mess of 
vulgarisms, when Mr. Potter arose, took hold on 
one of his arms, and placing his other hand at his 
back, sent him a tilt into the yard. The enraged 
man ran to his horse, snatched a revolver from his 
saddle-wallets, and returned to seek revenge on 
the brave preacher. In the meantime Mr. Potter 
stepped into the house for some implement of de- 
fense. Finding only a hatchet, he stood beside the 
door, awaiting the approach of his antagonist, 
hatchet in hand. The daring man turned around, 
walked to the street, and led away Mr. Potter's 
horse. That was more than the preacher could en- 
dure — to stand still and see an offending stranger 
lead away his own trusty steed. He would not 
have been Potter had he not tried to regain his old 
circuit-horse. He followed on till the man halted 
near a store down the street, when he got over into 
a side lot, so that his approach might not be discov- 
ered, and having no arms, he advanced cautious- 
ly; but when within a few yards of him the drunk- 
en man saw Mr. Potter, and instantly presented 
his six-shooter. Mr. Potter was too fast for him — 
he instantly leaped at him, and wrenching his pistol 
from him, gave it to a bystander. Then the aston- 
ished man seized Mr. Potter, and a fearful tussle 
ensued. The struggling preacher got hold of a 
stone in the affray, and brought his antagonist to 
the ground w^ith it, and held him until an officer 



298 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

arrested him and brought him to trial. On trial 
the evidence was clear that he had made two as- 
saults on Mr. Potter with intent to kill, and had 
taken forcible possession of his horse. Knowing 
that if the magistrate bound him over to the Dis- 
trict Court he would likely be sentenced to the pen- 
itentiary — which Mr. Potter did not desire — he 
asked the court to levy a small fine and release him, 
to which the court consented, and fixed the fine at 
ten dollars and costs; but he was remanded to jail 
till payment of the fine, and while en route to the 
prison he abused the court, and waved his fist at 
Mr. Potter, saying, "I shall see you some time." 
Mr. Potter asked the sherift' to "hold on," which 
he did, when he gave the prisoner the following 
lecture: "Sir, I w^as forced into a difiiculty wdth 
you by protecting respectable ladies from your in- 
sults. I have exercised a great deal of patience and 
forbearance with you; I have put my life in peril to 
save yours; I ran on your pistol, and why you did 
not shoot I cannot tell. I could have killed you 
with your own weapon while it was in my hands, 
and the law w^ould not have hurt me. Through my 
advice the court fined you instead of putting you 
under bond, which, if done, would send you to 
Huntsville: you have gotten ofi" quite light. l!Tow, 
if you ever make another pass at me your stay on 
aarth may be short." I^ext morning that unfortun- 
ate man, being discharged from jail, rode out of the 
little town a vanquished desperado, never to visit 
more, we reck, the scene of his sudden humiliation 
by an ineftectual contest with the "Indian-fighting 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 299 

preacher." Perhaps this was the most critical, the 
most trying scene in his ministerial life. The ex- 
cited moments of quick surprise instantly spring 
into vigorous activity the elements in the strong 
character of our wonderful hero, his pure gallantry 
leading him to act as quickly as powder to guard 
securely innocent and unprotected woman's virtue, 
even while putting his own life in extreme hazard — 
his profound sense of his own personal prowess to 
meet in physical antagonism the most powerful 
men, and his want of fear in moments of the risk 
of life, though coolly cautious to avoid harm — his 
lively sense of duty to protect and secure his per- 
sonal rights when they are in jeopardy, and his 
real sympathy for a vanquished foe when at his 
mercy. 

This critical aifray puts the pugnacious tenden- 
cies of our ministerial hero in their strono^est atti- 
tude. 'No other event in all his contests with bad 
civilized men, after he began to preach the gospel 
of love and peace, was so violent, or involved so 
much risk of life and limb; and as it is likely to 
disturb the delicate sensibilities of the extreme 
moral aesthetics of regions serene in peace, where 
law and order reign, we shall pen a paragraph on 
that subject just here, though we have glanced at 
the moral principles involved in another chapter of 
this book. 

It may be urged here that the preacher should 
have called on the officers of law to have arrested 
the lawless brigand. At the private house where 
he insulted the lady and her daughter there were 



300 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

no officers at hand, and when he was leading off the 
preacher's horse no official protested. In fact, the 
officers had allowed him to lord it over the town, 
cursing the citizens, throwing stones at them, driv- 
ing them, officers (perhaps) and all, into their 
houses for security. Truth is, it is clear, they were 
not extremely anxious to tackle the human demon. 
If Mr. Potter had depended on citizen or officer for 
relief at the suburban home of those insulted ladies, 
he surely would not have obtained it, for no other 
man was near, and that orderly process would have 
ended in a severe drubbing or loss of his life by the 
hands of that reckless debauchee. It was plain that 
all his aims were directed to the point of a per- 
sonal encounter with Mr. Potter, as he seems to 
have been the only man he found riding in the 
street — being determined to ride rough-shod over 
the entire town. It is highly probable that Mr. 
Potter w^ould not readily have regained possession 
of his horse had he depended alone on the officials 
to recover him. 

The life of man in those times out here was of 
little value with such men — preacher, judge, or 
sheriff, must stand out of the path of their dead- 
ly missiles. And to escape the collision, Mr. Pot- 
ter called at that private house. Had he mildly 
requested the beastly man to walk quietly away 
from the presence of the insulted females, and 
then have striven by force of moral suasion to 
change the lion into the lamb, it would have been as 
casting pearls unto the swine, and have more likely 
ended in the rending of the moralist, as it would 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 301 

have given the vantage-ground to the braggadocio's 
designs — a personal difficulty. 

Whether this cruel and rude specimen of human- 
ity had any knowledge of the man whom he strove 
to encounter, we are not advised; but in any event 
he intended to defeat any man he might chance 
to meet in the town at all hazards. And it is 
equally true that in this case he had met the wrong 
man. 

After all, the moral of the question involved turns 
on the right of a good man to save his own life by 
the destruction of the life of a bad man, when there 
is no other way of security. The God of Nature is 
the God of the Bible, and his laws in the one do not 
contravene those in the other. ITatural law gives 
to all animal creatures the right and the means of 
self-defense, either by stratagem, flight, or force of 
contest; even the silly sheep is armed with a stone- 
like head to defend his person. Man is more highly 
endowed with rights and implements of self-defense 
and protection than an}^ other earthly creature, and 
an extreme penalty is annexed to the crime of mur- 
der, on account of his confessed superiority. If 
man is allowed to destroy the life of a beast, a bird, 
to preserve his own, on account of his superiority 
over them, surely a good man may be innocent in 
destroying the life of a hurtful man, when there can 
be no other method of escape from violence. If all 
men are of more value than the lower animals, good 
men must be of more value than evil ones; and on 
that process of reasoning, when the lives of both 
are in peril, it is wise, right, and best, to save that 



302 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

of the good, the beneficial, at the cost of the hurt- 
ful. A skeptical lyric poet sung: 

He sees with equal eyes, as God of all, 
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall. 

That contradicts reason, nature, facts, and theology. 
The Immortal Teacher said of man, '^Ye are of 
more value than many sparrows." So also is the life 
of a virtuous man of greater use to the Avorld; there- 
fore it should be preserved at the cost of the other, 
when there is no other way to elude the violent 
hand. Will the sensitively pious reader pause and 
ask himself the startling query: "Would I sit still 
and let a heartless ruffian take away my life when I 
might save mine by destroying his?" That's the 
jooint of the pivot at issue. Do not evade it — face it. 
Will you die in the career of a useful life rather 
than kill a dangerous man who is already damaging 
the race? Mark you, your death is not to save the 
already ruined and injurious wretch from further 
sinning in this life, or from the penalties of evil in 
the life to come; for after you have allowed him to 
beat you, and take your life, he may go on destroy- 
ing human happiness here, and finally fall by dis- 
ease, or some other hand, and realize the doom of 
all evil-doers in the world to come. If your tacit 
submission to abuse and death should result in the 
present reformation and ultimate salvation of the 
poor creature, then the point of issue is changed. 
But no such efiects are anticipated in the premises. 
St. Paul says, "Evil men and seducers shall wax 
worse and worse." They usually go on in their 
destructive way to the bitter end. If it be right to 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 303 

seek the destruction of the causes of disease atid 
pestilence, to kill venomous reptiles, ravenous birds 
and beasts, and the raving mad-dog, which endan- 
ger human life, then too the desperado^ who puts 
himself on a parity with them, forfeits his claim to 
life, both to the civil law and to the individual 
whose life he may attack. The equitable civil code 
attaches no guilt to deeds done in strict defense of 
self-life. The doctrine of self-abnegation at the 
peril of life finds no foundation in the catalogue of 
human virtue, as no human action is meritorious, or 
suffering vicarious, as in the case of Him who was 
more than man — above the demands of law. 



304 Andrew Jackson Totter. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Conference met at Gonzales. Bishop Keener pre- 
sided, and tbe Rev. John S. Gillett presiding elder 
of San Antonio District. Mr. Potter was reap- 
pointed to the Uvalde Circuit. It was a year of the 
severest trials of his life, occasioned by the afflic- 
tion and death of a beloved son — -a young man in 
his sixteenth year, and of great promise. He was 
taken early in the spring of 1875, and just gradu- 
ally declined under all kind of attention and wise 
medical treatment. His medical adviser told him 
to travel with his son, as he could do him no good 
with medicine. Mr. Potter carried him around his 
circuit with him, but he did not improve; and he 
then took him over into Mexico, to try the virtue 
of its elevated altitudes, and the reviving qualities 
of the Hermanos hot springs, and San Lucas cool 
mineral springs — remaining five days at one, and 
eight at the other. But he did not improve, and he 
returned to his home in Texas. There was a com- 
pany of about twenty-five or thirty persons — men, 
women, and children— and they all met and rendez- 
voused on the west bank of the Nueces River on 
the Fourth of July; and they crossed the Rio 
Grande at Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass, which is 
on the east side of that river, passing through San 
Juan, and San Juan Sabinus, and other Mexican 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 305 

villages — the whole distance from the Rio Grande 
to the springs being about one hundred and lifty 
miles. " The spring bursts out of the base of a 
small mountain, and runs off into a considerable 
creek. It is surrounded by a rock wall about eight 
feet high, and has no entrance except where the 
wall had been thrown down to make a gap. One 
mile below the spring there was a hacienda and a 
large farm w^atered from the creek, where we got 
most kinds of vegetables. ]N'o accommodations at 
the springs, and all visitors had to camp and supply 
themselves. It is said the reason that no improve- 
ments are allowed at these springs, it gives the poor 
an equal chance at their healing virtues." 

After getting into Mexico, their route led along 
a level plain, with the grand ridges and wave-like 
heights of the sublime Santa Rosa Mountains run- 
ning parallel to the right all the way. Mr. Potter 
says in all his sights of the grand mountain -ranges 
he has ever beheld, the Santa Rosa's excels all in 
picturesque loveliness. The water when drunk hot 
w^as pleasant to the taste, but when cool it was sick- 
ening and offensive. The temperature was a little 
burning to one in health, but Mr. Potter's son, in 
a delicate condition, could bear its heat when ap- 
plied to the surface. Mr. Potter stripped for a bath, 
and stepping on a rock, put one foot in, and it felt 
so hot he jerked it out, and said, "Tom, I can't 
stand it!" Just then the rock slipped, and in he 
tumbled, and he said he thought he was scalded. 
The manner of bathing is to go into the water and 
drink as much of it as you can well bear, and after 

20 



306 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

remainiDg in about ten minutes, come out and roll 
up in a blanket about five or seven minutes, then 
rub with a coarse towel, and dress. The sweating 
in the process is profuse. This is done twice or 
thrice per day. 

The party then went to the San Lucas spring, 
about fifty miles distant — passing a hacienda about 
four miles before reaching the spring — then up a 
narrow canon you will reach the spring, which does 
not run off, but is truly in a cave. You enter the 
cave at the spring, and then, with a light, descend 
along a rocky declivity over which the water rap- 
idly fiovvs deeper into the bosom of the earth. The 
water is cool and pleasant, and must have curative 
virtues, as when you bathe in it you can find the 
precise location of the disease. The sediment and 
mud taken from the crevices about the spring and 
applied to the surface is almost equal to a blister. 
It will eat holes in the clothing. Many of the party 
received great benefit, but their time was limited, 
and they could not remain. Lung affections were 
alleviated. 

Returning, they came by the old town of Santa 
Kosa, of historic fame, reaching back three hundred 
years. It is a mining town, and its prosperity was 
like the tides, ebbing and flowing, and was at a low 
tide at that juncture. It is on no river, but is 
watered by a number of springs coming out of the 
mountains, sufficient for irrigation in the valley. 
They lay there one day, intending to visit the mines 
about four miles distant, but rains prevented their 
doing so. A remnant of Kickapoo Indians came 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 307 

into town, and Mr. Potter's son being desirous of 
seeing an Indian, he drove with him into town. 
About twenty-five of them were there on horseback, 
and the young man tliought them the grandest sight 
he had seen in all the trip. 

After a tour of thirty days, the party returned to 
Uvalde, where they parted, each going to his own 
abode. But Mr. Potter's son was not improved. 
Depositing him at his mountain-home, he returned 
to his circuit with a heavy heart. Having traveled 
near a thousand miles with his beloved son, and 
feeling so deeply attached to him, with but little 
hope of his recovery, he felt the shading of that 
pall of sorrow which, sooner or later, must fall upon 
his paternal heart. 

From Prio Town Mr. Potter, Mr. Rutledge and 
his wife, and Mrs. Kingsbury, wife of the Rev. Icha- 
bod Kingsbury, got into Mr. Putledge's ambulance 
and drove out on a fishing excursion in the Frio 
River. They stopped at a crossing, and got a Mex- 
ican to ride to a house not far away to get some 
fishing-tackle. Mr. Rutledge turned out his horses 
to grass, but in a few minutes here came the Mexi- 
can riding at rapid speed, saying, "Indians! hitch 
up and get to the house as quickly as possible! In- 
dians are close by, and have shot a man!" They 
harnessed in quick time, and drove in good speed, 
reaching the house unharmed. Mr. Potter held his 
"Winchester" and revolver in his hands, ready for 
battle; Mrs. Kingsbury was cool, but the other lady 
was a little nervous, and frequently said, " Whip up, 
Ed ! w^liip up, Ed ! " They all had, indeed, j ust made 



308 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

a narrow escape. The Indians, about fifteen in 
number, had crossed at the precise point where they 
had halted to begin their fishing, about fifteen min- 
utes before their arrival, and had passed on about a 
mile and shot at young Newton, who was herding 
stock, and hit his horse, but the horse lived long 
enough to carry him home unhurt. The fishing- 
party heard the report of the gun. 

This year the Kev. Ichabod Kingsbury, then liv- 
ing in Frio Town, was licensed to preach. He is 
now a member of the West Texas Conference, and 
pastor of the San Antonio City Mission — a true 
man, and faithful in his work. 

Learning that his son was rapidly declining, Mr. 
Potter came home early in the fall. Seeing that 
his son was nearing his end, and feeling the need 
of fraternal sympathy and condolence, he wrote to 
the Rev. T. G. Wools, then on the Medina Circuit, 
to come, if he could, to the scene of his trials and 
sorrows. When Mr. Wools received the letter he 
was under pledge to deliver a Masonic address at 
Pleasanton, but, like a true brother and follower of 
Him who ever comforted the sorrowing, he laid aside 
every thing, and soon passed over fifty intervening 
miles, and reached the home of his afilicted friend 
and brother. His coming was greeted by the sor- 
rowing family. He remained with them several 
days, consoling the family and the sinking young 
man, and then returned to his circuit. Mr. Potter 
had a favorite pony, which he gave Mr. Wools to 
ride and keep through the fall and coming winter. 

Mr. Potter's son gradually declined, and Mr. Pot- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 309 

ter could not attend the session of the Conference 
at San Antonio. He became anxious to die in the 
Church, and when Mr. Kingsbury came home from 
Conference, he received him into the Church in the 
discipHnary form; and from that time he was full 
of joyous grace, admonishing and encouraging all 
who might enter his room, asking them to meet 
him in heaven. In the light of eternal joys he 
passed away on the 11th of i^ovember, 1875. Death 
chooses a shining mark, as little hands love to pluck 
the prettiest flowers. That young man was truly a 
noble youth. Fond of reading, he had stored his 
young mind with a knowledge of books not often 
surpassed by those of his age; but alas! as a flower 
blooming lovely in the morn, he fell into decay ere 
the coming of the evening. The family sorrow not 
without hope. They express grateful remembrance 
too of the kindness of the Rev. H. W. South, who 
wept with them in the days of their great grief. 



310 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

We have already said that Mr. Potter did not attend 
the session of the Conference in San Antonio, owing 
to the affliction of his son. He had now been sent 
far from home for four successive years, and he was 
sent to the Bandera Mission, which included Boerne, 
near to his mountain -home, that he might have 
some chance to adjust home aifairs, as his long ab- 
sence had a little tangled up his finances. Dr. J. G. 
Walker was the presiding elder. It was to Mr. 
Potter a laborious year. His unimproved home de- 
manded much attention, his stock were to be looked 
after, and all the duties the Church imposed on hira 
to be met. We have nothing of marked interest to 
record of his mission this year, but an enjoyable 
feast with the Christian portion of society, and 
some increase in membership. Much of the towns 
of Bandera and Boerne are of the German element, 
and most of them are infidels or Roman Catholics, 
and cannot be reached, because they never attend 
Protestant preaching, except a few w^ho attend 
through the respect they have for Mr. Potter. 

This year he made a trip to the Sabinal Canon, 
with his presiding elder, J. G. Walker, to aid ir. 
holding a quarterly - meeting. The preacher in 
charge objected to having preaching on Saturday 
night, saying that there was a horse-race near by. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 311 

and many of the men were drunk, and that they 
would be at church at night and create a disturb- 
ance, and have a row. Mr. Potter was in favor of 
having service; his motto was, never to give w^ay 
till defeated in the contest; but Dr. Walker con- 
sented to making the appointment for night-service 
if Mr. Potter would preach. Preach ! certainly he 
would — that was his calling; and too to preach to 
all men, good and bad; and to preach he had trav- 
eled sixty miles through frontier dangers, and no 
time was to be lost through fear of molestation of 
wicked men — that was not his method. He con- 
sented to preach, the appointment was announced, 
and at night the house was thronged, and those 
drinking, racing men were there. But look, dear 
reader, and you will presently see that which may 
be a strange sight to you, though common out here 
in those times. Mr. Potter enters the crowded 
house, and gravely walks down the aisle with the 
belt of his revolver hanging on his left arm, and his 
well-tried "Winchester" in his right hand; and on 
reaching the stand he hangs the six-shooter on a 
nail in the wall behind him, and leans the gun 
against the wall near to him, and proceeds to read, 
sing, pray, and preach, and dismiss the crowd in 
order, and all go home, no one disturbing in the 
least. 

It was not fear of the fire-arms alone that kept 
that audience in order — it w^as a partite mingle of 
curious respect for the wonderful preacher, and fear 
of arousing his valor. Mr. Potter never returned 
any one for misconduct at his meetings — that en- 



312 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tered not into his plans. County-sites were too far 
removed from each other, and officers of law not at 
hand, and his travels were too extensive, and he had 
no time to waste in attending courts as a witness; 
and besides, when you go to law you raise issues, and 
partyize communities, and often do harm. He man- 
aged his own congregations, he was law and gospel, 
he was preacher and sheriff, and if he could not 
govern his people, he never went to law about it. 
He always notified his congregations of his manner 
of operations, and told them if they created any 
disturbances they must meet his remedies, which 
were mild or harsh, as occasion might demand, even 
to the dexterous use of his carnal protectors if need 
be; and if in his methods of chastisement for evil- 
doing he defeated them, they must abide the issue; 
but if they mastered him, he made no appeal to law. 
At this period of border history there were a 
number of refugees out here, and they did not much 
fear the civil law, and that mode of dealing with 
them was the only plan promising success. Mr. 
Potter had two threatening difficulties in carrying 
out his rules, but, fortunately, all ended without 
anything serious; and Ave decline narrating them 
here, as the parties are living, and the healed 
wounds need not now be probed. In fact, after he 
had been known, his name was ever a guarantee for 
orderly crowds, and, for the most part, the worst of 
men would befriend and defend him, and would 
listen to his preaching when they could not be in- 
duced to pay attention to the ministrations of any 
other man. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 313 

Many little cuts of wit, displaying the high social 
class of feelings he ever carried with him, in the 
parlor and along the road, might interest the reader, 
a few of which we here mention. He had appoint- 
ed two amiable young ladies to raise money to pur- 
chase Sabbath-school literature, and they brought 
up sixty dollars. There was a nice gentleman there 
— a bachelor — by the name of Stewart, who was a 
great gallant, and had, perhaps, aided the fair 
Misses in raising the money. Mr. Potter could not 
let the chance to make a pun on the phrase "stew- 
ard" pass him, and after tendering his gratitude to 
the young ladies, he said that he thought it a wise 
plan to appoint them stewards^ and looking at Mr. 
Stew^art, he said, "Not that I mean to insinuate a 
change in the name to Steivart, unless that be de- 
sirable under certain circumstances." That ended 
in quite a general, hearty smile in the audience. 

One night Dr. Walker had preached one of his 
close, logical sermons, and there was a minister 
present whom the Doctor esteemed as a man of 
rather uncommon talent, and he imagined that his 
gifted brother did not indorse all he discussed that 
night. Mr. Potter knew the value the Doctor 
placed on the opinions of that able preacher, and 
when the Doctor said that the greatest man at 
church last night did not sanction all his theology, 
Mr. Potter said, "I do n't know that you have heard 
me speak about it." The Doctor saw the point, and 
joined in a hearty laugh. 

When traveling along the road one day he picked 
up a six-shooter, and soon he met a man returning 



314 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

on the hunt of it, and instead of inquiring if he 
had found such an article, the gentleman said, 
"You didn't find a six-shooter?" Mr. Potter re- 
marked, "You tell a lie: here it is," handing it to 
him. The gladdened man could but smile. 

A full-blooded Hibernian would meet a full match 
in ready wit and retort when he encountered Mr. 
Potter, and he seldom ceased his witticisms till vic- 
tory perched on his standard and amused the list- 
eners. His memory was like an encyclopedia, and 
a gazetteer printed in large primer type. 

This year the district-meeting was held at Pleas- 
anton, in Atascosa County, and here Mr. Potter 
met with the Rev. T. G. Wools, his intimate friend 
and brother, to whom, in the previous fall, he had 
loaned a favorite pony. Having learned of Mr. 
"Wools's strong attachment to the pony, he intended 
to give it to him, but had never even intimated it 
to Mr. Wools; but at that meeting he made out a 
bill-of-gift, and presented it to him; but when Mr. 
Wools discovered the nature of the bill, his heart- 
tenderness melted into grateful tears, and the Rev. 
J. W. DeVilbiss, who was standing by, finished the 
reading of the bill, when Mr. Potter said to Mr. 
Wools that, knowing his great fondness for the 
pony, he felt that it would be a species of cruelty to 
take it from him — telling him, at the same time, 
that he had fifteen or twenty other ponies, and that 
he could give him any one of them and not feel it, but 
that he felt the giving of that one, as he had bought 
it for his own riding, and money could not buy it. 
"But now it is yours, all yours, as fully as if you 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 315 

had paid in coin its real value; you can feel just as 
grateful as you may desire, but you owe me noth- 
ing for it in the future. When some people make 
a gift, it requires the favors of the remaining life- 
time to repay it; but you and I are now even, 
and if ever in the future we may have any trading, 
it is your dollars and mine, but this pony is not to 
come into the account." Mr. Potter held to two max- 
ims about giving — viz., that a gift you did not prize 
w^as truly no gift; that it w^as not a sacrifice unless 
you felt that the giving had deprived you of some- 
thing of value; and that such giving is a loan to a 
remunerating Providence. In this valuable dona- 
tion, too, Mr. Potter felt that he was in some sense 
meeting a debt of gratitude for fraternal attentions 
and sympathies given him in that day of dark sor- 
rows, when he was called to bury a dearly-beloved 
son. Attentions to the sick, and tender kindnesses 
to our dying loved ones, are seldom forgotten ; they 
endear us to each other as if we were indeed a com- 
mon brotherhood. It is when the iron is infused 
with a great heat that its integral parts are closely 
welded into one. So hearts, in sympathetic contact 
under the melting of a great sorrow, readily fuse 
into one. The ties existing between these two 
brethren, having been cemented together in the fur- 
nace of a deep affliction, will outlive the waste of 
time and the toils of life. "I feel this gift, but it is 
yours." What an immortal strength of sincere at- 
tachment does that phrase contain! 

Mr. Potter was ever ready to help the poor and 
the needy. A man by the name of K lived at 



316 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Boerne, near to him. He had been in affluence, but 
misfortunes had redued him to want. Knowing his 
tender sensibilities about his humble condition, Mr. 

Potter called on him one day, and said, " Mr. K , 

I have a large beef running in a thicket, and I can't 
get him out to sell him, and he will have to be 
butchered in the woods, and if you will accept of 
him I will have my boys butcher him in the thicket 
and bring him to you." The needy, grateful old 
man said, "A thousand times grateful to you, Mr. 
Potter; send me only half of it — I hate to receive all 
of your large beef without paying you something, 
which I am unable to do." "No," said Mr. Potter, 
"I don't need it, and it is cool, and you can salt it 
down and keep it securely." So when Mr. Potter 
was leaving home, he said to his eldest son, "John, 
if you will kill that big beef in the thicket, and 

take it to Mr. K , you may have the hide," 

which at that time was worth about three dollars. 
John slew the wild ox, and delivered its meat agree- 
able to orders. 

Mr. Potter was absent a long time on his mission, 
but while eno^asred in his Master's work of distrib- 
uting Bibles, on parting with a Christian lady, she 
dropped two ten-dollar gold coins in his hand. He 
asked, "What is this for?" not knowing but that 
it was a donation to the Bible cause. She replied, 
"It is yours — your own." Tendering gratitude to 
the donor, he thought, "Double price for my wild 
beef" — ten dollars being its market-value at that 
time. After his return home he went to see Mr. 
K , and remained to dinner, and Mr. K re- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 317 

marked, "This, Mr. Potter, is the last of the fine 
beef you gave us, and I must tender you many 
earnest thanks, till you are better paid; for I do 
not know what we would have done without it." 
"No," replied Mr. Potter, " I have already received 
a double price for the ox," telling him how. The 
old gentleman, though not a religious man, indorsed 
the doctrine of a retributive providence. 

Mr. Potter was going to town one day, and a poor 
widow hailed him, and handed him one dollar, say- 
ing, " Please get me a dollar's worth of coffee," add- 
ing, " That is all I have in the world, and I do not 
know where the next is to come from." He bought 
the coffee, but, like Joseph in Egypt, he put the dollar 
back in the sack. While there, the widow sent her 
little daughter to parch some of the coffee, to make 
her a cup, and on opening the little bag, she found 
the dollar, and ran to her mother with it. The 
mother understood it, and began to weep a widow's 
grateful tears, and Mr. Potter mounted and rode on. 
But on his next round he was called on for his 
taxes, and the evil spirit said, "There, now, where 
is your dollar?" He met a half-drunken man, who 
said, " Mr. Potter, the Lord has converted my soul ; 
I am a changed man. Here is five dollars for friend- 
ship." " Giving to the poor is lending to the Lord." 



318 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTEE XL. 

'' In 1876 the Conference was held in Seguin, Bishop 
Doggett presiding, and I was sent to the Kerrville 
Circuit, and Dr. J. G. Walker was the presiding 
elder. I had been set down to a circuit in another 
district, but when the Bishop proposed to return 
Dr. Walker to the San Antonio District, which in- 
cluded so much of the Indian -infested border, the 
Doctor said that he could not consent to take it 
without me, saying that he was an old man, and 
must have me to accompany him through the dan- 
gers of the frontier, and the kind Bishop changed 
me to the Kerrville Circuit. My having to make 
the general tours with the Doctor that year was no 
little drawback to the work on my own circuit, be- 
ing absent so long on those district-trips; neverthe- 
less, we had some glorious revivals, and the Church 
was greatly built up in the faith. We had a camp- 
meeting just below Centre Point, on the Guadalupe 
River, and the people mostly brought their provis- 
ions on the ground in the day, and returned home 
at night; but I could not consent to be defeated, 
and I hitched up my own wagon, provided myself 
with sufficient provisions and bedding, and a full 
outfit for camping, and was the first on the ground. 
But there were four ladies and gentlemen who had 
come from a distance to be entertained that night, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 319 

and my wagon was the only tent. Kow, what to 
do was the puzzling query with a man who was 
■used to house -keeping in the great open world. 
But I stretched my wagon -sheet for a tent, and 
laid down a mattress crosswise, so as to give space 
for the four ladies, and they occupied the tent. 
Brother Kingsbury and myself rolled up in our 
blankets under the shade of a live-oak. Sister 
Kingsbury was one of our lady-guests, and was ever 
full of humor with, and merrily criticised, my culi- 
nary arts; but at eating-time she displayed com- 
mendable appreciation of my skill in that line. Dr. 
Walker was entertained at a private house. People 
came in from a distance and camped, and Sister J. 
D. Brown bought cloth and soon stretched a large 
tent, and plenty of supplies were brought in; and 
the meeting continued over the second Sabbath, 
with an extensive revival and glorious results." 

Dr. Walker refusing to be returned to the San 
Antonio District unless Mr. Potter was stationed in 
its bounds, with instructions to guard him along 
the belt of the dangerous border, quite forcibly dis- 
plays the value of Mr. Potter to that frontier region. 
Dr. Walker had been there, and knew of its hard- 
ships and its dangers, and also the importance of 
being piloted by a brave, cautious guide. He had 
spent years of his early ministerial life with the 
friendly Indians, nor was he wanting in either skill 
or courage, but he was then physically frail, and is 
now really superannuated, but will not be in fact. 
Mr. Potter is now presiding elder of the same ter- 
ritory, reaching deeper into the Indian domain, but 



320 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

carries no longer gnn or pistol. The voice of the 
savage sounds out no more along its dells or vales. 
Songs of praise now go up to heaven all along the 
border-line. And though Kerr County is now the 
last organized county on the western limit of Amer- 
ican civilization, the hardy shepherds keep watch, 
unharmed, over their flocks on the unpeopled past- 
ures on the prairie wilds, far away from human 
habitation. If the gospel advances, the frontier 
recedes, as clouds disappear before the shining light; 
but if the gospel retreats, the border lessens the 
sphere of civilization's reign. 

This year the District Conference was held at 
Selma, and Bishop Doggett presided. The Bishop 
preached one of his magnificent models of an evan- 
gelical sermon on the Sabbath, on Ezekiel's dry 
bones in the valley. Dr. Walker wanted a preacher 
to follow the Bishop at three o'clock; he knew 
that most preachers were sensitive about following 
a bishop, when he has crowded the mind with a vol- 
ume of theological facts just a few hours before, and 
after the people have also loaded their stomachs 
with a mess of condiments: heads stored with great 
ideas, and stomachs crammed with meats, do not 
enable a congregation to hear any thing to a sense 
of vivid appreciation. At best, three o'clock in the 
afternoon is usually regarded as a hard hour to 
enlist the thoughts and feelings of an audience on 
any theme. 

Dr. Walker said to Mr. Potter, "I generally say 
to my preachers when I want them to preach. You 
must preach at such a time; but I won't do that now. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 321 

But, Brother Potter, if you think you can preach this 
afternoon after the Bishop, I wish you woukl do so." 
Mr. Potter replied, " I do n't know but that I can 
preach after the Bishop as readily as after you ; " 
and at the hour he stood before a large, intelligent 
congregation of citizens, preachers, lay delegates, and 
the Bishop. His theme was fidelity to conviction, as 
in the case of the blind man who received his sight. 
He had the spirit of preaching upon him, and the 
hour was one of great refreshment to the Church. 
The brethren responded with hearty amens, and 
the good old Bishop commended the sermon, say- 
ing it edified him. I^oble old Bishop! His toils 
are over now! When parting with the w^riter, the 
last w^ords he uttered were, "Glory to God! let us 
meet in heaven ! " Potter is not afraid, yet he is a 
modest and a sensitive man. 
21 



322 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

"In the fall of 1877 the session of the Conference 
was held in Corpus Christi. Bishop Wightman pre- 
sided, and a new district was formed, covering all 
the border circuits from the Rio Grande to the Col- 
orado River. W. T. Thornberry was the presiding 
elder, and I was appointed to the Uvalde Mission, 
covering quite a large territory, which had never 
been occupied before, except the town of Uvalde, 
which was detached from another circuit, and con- 
nected with this new mission, to give the preacher a 
little support. It was the only place on the work 
where there was an organization. The appoint- 
ments were, Uvalde, Eagle Pass, Fort Clark, and 
San Felipe. Some of these points were sixty miles 
apart, and the nearest one to my home was a hun- 
dred miles. I found only two members at Eagle 
Pass, a town of several thousand inhabitants, ex- 
cept among the Mexicans, who were supplied with 
a preacher speaking the Spanish language by our 
Conference, but among the English-speaking pop- 
ulation I could find only two Methodists. 

"Here I must record an aftecting incident. An 
invalid lady in the town had been lingering some- 
time, and was approaching her dying moments, and 
she sent a friend to search for some one to pray for 
her, and no one could be found that would pray in 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 323 

public. The sick woman said that there was an old 
Methodist lady living in the outskirts of town — 'go 
after her, and tell her that it is my dying request 
that she come and pray for me.' Being delicate and 
timid, she at first refused to go. She had never 
been asked to utter a public prayer; but she finally 
went and took up the heavy cross; and it soon be- 
came light, and He who said, 'Where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there am I in 
the midst of them,' was- with them, making the 
dying-room the antechamber of heaven. It is said 
that ' It is good to be there.' How blest the spot 
Avhere the good man meets his fate! it is honored 
above the common walks of men. God and angels 
deign to meet him — there earth and heaven meet. 
Heaven clothes the earthly with its radiant glories, 
and the death -bed becomes the gate to fadeless joys. 
In this case the dying woman prays, and Israel's 
sainted mother prays, ,and the celestial minstrels 
touch the key of joy in the penitent's heart, and it 
thrills out a new note of praise, and heaven begins 
just at the verge of the grave. J^o priest nor 
preacher are there, but the great High-priest him- 
self is near with his angel-bands. That benevolent 
Jesus, whose tender heart held him still at the blind 
beggar's cry, heard the tearful wail of the helpless 
penitent, and the earnest pleadings of the aged saint, 
and instantly, quick as the speed of thought, he 
comes to the scene of want. Amid the grateful an- 
thems of angelic millions he hears the cries of sor- 
row, and sees the falling tears of earth's afflicted 
children. Once he was a man of sorrows, shedding 



324 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tears. He is man's brother, touched with a feeling 
for his infirmity — his brother exalted and endowed 
with power to save. 

*' The scene is away, away in a Sodom-like city, 
w^here no one lived who prayed audibly to God; but 
one lone, delicate woman ventures to utter. a cry to 
the Mighty to save, and the answer comes. Gentle 
reader, think of the charm woven around the name 
* Methodist!' — a sincere, a devoted Methodist, as its 
immortal Founder was. The dying penitent woman 
said, 'There is an old Methodist woman living on a 
certain street — go tell her that it is my dying request 
that she come and pray for me.' That plea touched 
the Methodism — the religion — in the heart of the 
good lady, and, like her divine Master, she repairs 
to the death - chamber. The revolutions of the 
wheels of fortune had borne that mother in Meth- 
odism to the extreme limits of the domain of the 
American Republic. From her little home-room 
on the bank of the Rio Grande she could look out 
upon the hills, and hear the bell-chimes of a be- 
nighted nation. Did not an all-wise and gracious 
Providence station her there to open the gate of 
paradise to that penitent one?" 

The name of Methodist is now almost identical 
with that of religion. It has been fitly styled, 
"Christianity in earnest" — Christianity in harness. 
It is carrying Christianity's saving institutions to 
the nations. Mr. Potter was the first evangelist to 
visit that Sodomic town, and no doubt his visit 
there revived the name of Methodist in the memo- 
ries of the English-speaking people; and w^e now 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 325 

hear of at least one redeemed spirit passing from 
its sinful haunts to that region where sin is not. 
who is not proud of a pure Methodism! It is 
now in all lands, and is identified with all people; 
and its genius is inoculating all hearts, and is being 
whispered by all tongues of the babbling earth. Its 
arms are, like a Saviour's love, embracing the world, 
and her noble missionary evangelists shall soon min- 
gle their lo've-toned voices at their meeting on their 
voyage around the globe. Now they are almost 
within hearing of each other. When the gospel of 
the kingdom is preached in all the world, then the 
end cometh. Our grand old Methodism leads the 
van. Potter on the border, and Lambuth and his 
valorous crew in China, Patterson in Mexico, and 
Ransom in South America. Drive on its cars. 

"After making a tour of about two months in my 
distant field, having carried the gospel to the utmost 
limit of the United States, my voice having mingled 
with the sounds of the church-bells of another na- 
tion, I returned home to my family. In my travels 
I had followed up the Eio Grande River to the re- 
motest settlements. While on my homeward trip 
I met my presiding elder, W. T. Thornberry, mak- 
ing his way out to the north-west portion of the 
frontier, and he proposed that if I would go with 
him on that trip, he would make a whole round 
with me on my large circuit, to which I consented. 
Remaining at home only a few days, I met him at 
Centre Point, and we started over a territory en- 
tirely new to us both. It was about the first of 
March, and the weather was very pleasant. Our 



326 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

first objective point was Junction City, Kimble 
County. It took its name from being at the junc- 
cion of the north and south prongs of the Llano 
River, sixty-five miles from our starting-point. On 
reaching Junction City, the place for holding the 
quarterly-meeting, we found that the appointment 
had not been circulated, the preacher not having 
reached the work. Meeting an old friend who was 
not religious at that time, but is now a'steward in 
the Church, he said he would hurry round and let 
the people know, and in about an hour he had con- 
vened a good congregation. He pointed out a house 
to us, saying that was the only one in the place 
large enough to take care of us. We drove there, 
but the gentleman refused to take us in, and we re- 
turned to the church, and found the audience ready 
for preaching. After the sermon, we were invited 
to dinner with our old friend. The town was just 
being settled, and they had erected a few small log- 
cabins, and scarcely had room for their own fami- 
lies. But a vast change has come over the place: in 
the last three years they have constructed good and 
comfortable houses; they now have a neat court- 
house, where all the preaching is done; and a large 
congregation usually attends. Our old friend A. J. 
Allen has erected a large hotel, where preachers are 
ever welcome to his munificent hospitality." 

How^ true the promise to the minister who leaves 
home and friends for Jesus's sake, that he shall find 
both home and friends to welcome his coming! 
How large the promise to him who gives shelter and 
food, even a cup of cold water, to him for Jesus's 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 327 

sake! His reward is sure; if not here, it is "over 
there." But how terrible the threatening to him 
who refuses him hospitality, and closes his door 
against his approach! It is to be more tolerable in 
the day of judgment for Sodom than for him. Even 
the dust which the minister's rejected feet leave on 
his door-step shall witness against him in that day. 
The preacher is on the King's business, and demands 
entrance into all climes, homes, and hearts. He 
carries a key of command w^hich is to unlock the 
empaneled doors of the palace and unpin the clap- 
board shutter of the cabin, and woe to the man who 
denies him entrance in his official attire. He 
comes in Christ's name. Jesus said of him, "Who- 
soever receives him in ray name receiveth me." 
Dear reader, is your generous home ever open to 
the faithful minister of Jesus Christ? Then are 
you blessed. He is about your family altar in the 
name of Jesus, and to him it is as if you had re- 
ceived him in person. Even on the frontier God 
touches hearts to shelter and feed the evangelical 
pioneer. 



328 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Mr. Thornberry and Mr. Potter then proceeded 
from Junction City to Brady City, the place of hold- 
ing the quarterly-meeting. Here they met Dr. 
Tucker, who then took charge of the two missions — 
Mason and Brady. Here they had a pleasant time, 
but leaving Brady City, they passed down through 
Mason and Fredericksburg to Centre Point, their first 
starting-point. On this trip they stopped a day or 
two to rest. The lady of the house was an elderly 
Methodist, and in her early life had heard many of 
the able preachers of the older States; and she was 
fond of discussing the relative merits of the great 
divines. Mr. Thornberry said : " Sister, you have 
never met Brother Potter and myself before, and 
you have never heard either of us preach. Now, 
judging from the appearance of the two men, which 
would you think uses the best rhetoric in the pulpit 
— that is, which is the abler preacher?" The old 
sister elevated her glasses, and looked at one and 
then the other, and replied: "I don't know much 
about rhetoric, but I think that Brother Potter can 
make the best display^ Mr. Potter was careful to 
be silent, and the heavy end of the joke rested on 
Mr. Thornberry 's shoulders, as he was the presiding 
elder, and he had asked the question. He, however, 
did not venture another query on that subject on 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 329 

that trip. That gave Mr. Potter the long end of 
their joke-rope, and it was just to his hand. 

In this journey these two brethren traveled across 
the entire border of the West Texas Conference, 
from the Colorado to the Rio Grande, a distance of 
three hundred miles. Mr. Thornberry, according to 
promise, went with Mr. Potter an entire round on 
his great mission -circuit, making in all more than 
one thousand niiles, ending at Eagle Pass, on the 
Rio Grande River. But they crossed over the river, 
and stood on Mexican soil, and then returned into 
their own land. Here they passed into the domain 
of another nation, and when on the Colorado they 
had entered the bounds of the North-west Texas 
Conference. 

Ministerial brethren traveling together through 
such a vast, partially-settled region, beset by the fre- 
quent incursions of blood-thirsty savages and the 
wayside robber, learn to feel more sensibly man's 
dependence on his fellow to aid him in defeating 
his foes; and their sense of dependence strengthens 
their fraternal attachments for each other. Besides, 
Mr. Thornberry is said to be a most excellent trav- 
eling companion — always in a cheerful good humor; 
neVer murmuring at any thing ; at home in the wild 
prairie, or in the forest-dell; sleeping alike on the 
cold earth, sprinkled with night-dews, or on a downy 
bed; feasting on "jerked beef" and "black coffee," 
or banqueting on luxuries in a mansion — no matter 
where or what, all was ever right with him. In 
these things he and Mr. Potter were true 3^oke-fel- 
lows. They could do justice to a good dinner when 



330 Andrew Jaokson Potter. 

they might happen to overtake one of that kind; 
hut in the line of jest Mr. Potter usually carried off 
the laurels, though they were well matched. 

The reader is now invited to read from Mr. Pot- 
ter's manuscript an account of his Christian fellow- 
ship and fraternal intercourse with a minister of the 
Baptist Communion — the Rev. W. W. Harris — who, 
no doubt, now holds fellowship with the " Church 
of the first-born" in heaven: 

"In 1878 the Rev. W. W. Harris, a minister of 
the Missionary Baptist Church, was suffering from 
pulmonary consumption, and he made a tour with 
me to the Rio Grande, for his health. He was, I 
think, a native Texan, and had great pulpit notori- 
ety. He was educated at Independence, Washing- 
ton County, Texas, under the auspices of that noted 
educator, Dr. Rufus Burleson. He began to preach 
when quite young, and was for some time called 
* the boy-preacher.' He was also styled ' the young 
Spurgeon,' or ' Spurgeon Harris,' on account of his 
almost unsurpassed eloquence in the pulpit. He 
was a stanch Baptist, but nicely respectful to all 
other denominations, and he was welcomed to all 
their pulpits. He also was a strong defender of 
Baptist doctrines, but he had a nice regard for times, 
and places, and the Christian feelings of other peo- 
ple. He could preach a week, and it would be dif- 
ficult to tell what denomination he belonged to. He 
gloried in the cross and its connected truths, and 
seemed to lose sight of all other themes. He com- 
bined in himself a number of singular characteris- 
tics. He was cheerful and witty, grave and dignifi'ed; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 331 

his gestures in the pulpit were somewhat theatrical; 
he could make heaven with his smile, and hell with 
his frown; he was a 'man of one work;' he never 
gave an hour's study to secular aftliirs in his life; he 
was never married. I tirst formed his acquaintance 
in Caldwell County in 1862. He was then young 
and vigorous, and was preaching with enlarged pop- 
ularity. In 1877 he came to the upper part of Ken- 
dall County in search of health. His furrowed cheek 
and gray hairs told how time had been rapidly mark- 
ing off the passing years with him. His wasted 
form and brilliant e3^e indicated that his useful ca- 
reer was hurrying to a speedy close; but his heart 
still lingered in the Master's w^ork, and still he could 
and would bear his witness for Jesus with an energy 
that would not yield to disease. He assisted me 
in two revival-meetings, and preached with great 
power, 'though his outward man was perishing day 
by day.' In 1878 my circuit lay mostly out on the 
Rio Grande, and he made a tour with me, to test 
^ the virtues of that genial clime. He had to take 
charge of a small Baptist Church in Kerr County. 
When he was taking leave of his little flock for his 
Western trip, I told them after I had got away from 
them that they had all as well join the Methodists, 
for I would have him in my Church before our re- 
turn. He replied, 'Don't you do it. I will plunge 
Potter in the Pio Grande as soon as we get there.' 
Mr. Harris had no experience in frontier-life, and 
the journey was novel and romantic to him. There 
were but few Baptists in that country, and he would 
always be introduced as a Baptist minister. He was 



332 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

a Baptist in earnest. I put him forward to preach 
as often as I thought him able, and the people would 
flock to hear him in large numbers. I left him 
at San Felipe until I made another round on my 
circuit. 

" The Mexicans were committing great depreda- 
tions by stealing and driving stock over the river 
into Mexico, and there 'was great excitement all 
along the line on the Rio Grande River. On my re- 
turn to San Felipe with Master George Griner, a boy 
about twelve years old, the weather being intensely 
warm, I concluded to make a night-drive. Leaving 
Fort Clark about sundown, we set out for San Fe- 
lipe. We traveled till about midnight, and halted 
for a nap until early morning. I hobbled out my 
ponies to grass, and lay down on our blankets 'to 
nap it.' Mesquite-brush, prickly-pears, and almost 
any other thorny thing you might imagine, were all 
about there. Just before day George awoke me, 
saying that some one was after the ponies, driv- 
ino^ them off in the brush. The moon was shinino^ 
brightly. I jumped up, drew on my shoes, having 
no time to draw on my pants, but seized my faith- 
ful 'Winchester,' and hastened in pursuit of my 
ponies. On arriving near them, I saw the thief loos- 
ing the hobbles, and fired upon him, and he disap- 
peared in the brush. The ponies, being frightened 
at the report of the gun, jumped off a few paces, 
but I got around them, and drove them back to 
camp ; but in running through the thorny thicket I 
had filled my lower limbs with thorns. I pulled out 
the larger ones, hitched up my ponies, and a drive 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 333 

of fourteen miles brought us safely to San Felipe. 
With the aid of a small pair of tweezers I drew^ out 
the remaining thorns from my flesh. I learned that 
the Mexican I had shot belonged to a thriving band 
who had driven a large amount of stock into Mex- 
ico from the Texas side of the river. When I was 
running after my ponies, I did not know whether it 
was Mexicans or Indians, or whether there were 
many or few of them; but I intended to fight for 
my ponies. 

^'Mr. Harris had now been at San Felipe about 
six weeks, and had gained several pounds; but he 
became so nervous over the Mexican troubles I had 
to bring him to Uvalde, W'here he was quite sick, 
but kind hands administered unto him until he was 
able to travel again, w^hen he came into San Anto- 
nio, and thence to San Marcos; but his health con- 
tinued to decline till some time last year, when he 
w^ent back to San Felipe, on the Rio Grande, w^here 
he ended his suflferings, and passed into the radiance 
of eternal day. The Baptist Church in Texas has 
never mourned the loss of a minister so universally 
beloved by all denominations of Christians. My 
associations wdth him will hold a pleasing room in 
memory's hall. Dear departed brother, we call to 
mind all that was lovely in thy character in the days 
of thy sojourn w^ith us; but thou hast gone to min- 
gle with the spirits of the just made perfect, whilst 
thy silent body rests far away, where no tombstone 
marks the place of its repose, but Infinite Wisdom 
sees all its dust, and shall know where to find it in 
the last great day. may the green grass carpet, 



334 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and the gentle zephyrs hlow peacefully over, thy far- 
off grave!" 

How strong the Christian attachment of Mr. Pot- 
ter for real good men ! His religious fellowship was 
not confined to the limits of a Church creed; he 
readily associated with any good man, and indulged 
for him the most ardent brotherly regards. Where 
the light of piety shone, he laid aside distinctive 
tenets, and joined the fraternal hand. What God 
approves he never calls common. 

Mr, Potters last quarterly-meeting for 1878 was 
held at Uvalde about the 1st of September. Mr. 
Thornberry was the presiding elder, and was pres- 
ent. At the close of the meeting Mr. Potter took 
his reluctant and tearful farewell of his host of warm 
friends. He had been their pastor four years, and 
their attachment was indeed of a vital type. He 
has not met that people since, but he often speaks 
of those happy days, now gone forever. Mr. Potter 
then accompanied Mr. Thornberry to his quarterly- 
meeting at Frio Town. There Mr. Potter was among 
his old friends, and two saloon-men captured him, 
and boarded him at an hotel, furnishing him a neat 
room, and paying his fare; and these two gentlemen 
— Lester and Harkness — furnished the wine for the 
sacramental occasion. When Mr. Potter was about 
to leave, he went by the saloon to tell the men good- 
by. There was a side room, where visitors could 
enter, and not go into the saloon, and Mr.,Pottier 
went into that room to have a little parting talk 
with his benefactors. He had put on an old duster 
to drive in which was considerably torn. In their 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 335 

interview Mr. Potter said, "Gentlemen, I do not 
think myself better than others because I may 
chance to have on a better suit of clothing." Just 
then Mr. Lester tore off his old duster, and took 
dow^n a nice silk-alpaca coat which was hanging on 
a nail, and said, "Here; put this on." Mr. Potter 
replied, "Mr. Lester, I can't take your coat; my old 
duster was not worth any thing, and that is a line 
coat." But Lester said, " Take it along, Mr. Potter; 
you are welcome to it. We catch men drunk here 
every day, and take their coats off of them; we will 
have plenty more hanging up there in a day or two." 
And the fine silken coat adorned the preacher and 
the pulpit. What a wonderful man ! How strange 
his power over all classes of men and grades of so- 
ciety! Gamblers and saloon-men seem to claim him 
as their preacher, not merely because he was taken 
from their number into the Church, but he ever 
made it a special duty to preach to them the same 
religion that had saved him ; and too he was ever po- 
lite and kind to them. All men have an interest in 
the Bible and in the message of mercy he proclaims 
from its pages. 

We close this chapter by calling the reader's at- 
tention to the inestimable value of true Christian 
fellowship among all religious people. "Behold 
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity." Ministers of the various orthodox Churches 
may hold various views of ceremonies, and even doc- 
trines; but in heart they may be one, unified in love. 
Love is the all - essential grace, the never - failing 
charity; it fulfills the law. Mr. Potter was a real 



836 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Methodist, and Mr. Harris was a true Baptist, yet 
they loved and respected each other as did Jonathan 
and David of old. They rejoiced together as breth- 
ren of a common cause, and when death intervened 
the grave between them, Mr. Potter mourned his 
loss as a brother indeed, and still fondly cherishes 
the memory of his virtues. "Jesus, the Corner- 
stone, did first their hearts unite," and with all 
Christians the love of Jesus in the heart should be 
the end of all strife. Mr. Potter's motto is to culti- 
vate kind feelings for all men, and to deal justly and 
tenderly with all with whom he may chance to meet. 
Polite kindness, dear reader, is cheap, and it pays 
well in the end — blesses the mind of receiver and 
giver. Love is union, and union is strength; but 
sectarianism tends to strife and disunion, and that 
leads to weakness. As sure as contending winds 
rend and tear down, so sure does contention disunite 
the good which God and man may have joined 
together, and poison that which grace may have 
healed. To take a stone or brick from one part 
of a great temple, and place it in another part, 
does not add to either the symmetry or growth of 
the general structure. Ministers whose ministerial 
w^orks seem to indicate a call to contend with the 
members of other Churches, and take them out of 
the Church of their choice, and initiate them into 
their own Communions, may help to build up a cer- 
tain sect, but may add nothing to the cause of Jesus 
Christ in this world. Such ministers are usually 
dogmatic advocates for some pet " ism," or stanch 
ritualists, or rigid ceremonialists. If Mr. Harris had 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 337 

devoted his great talents in trying to proselyte affu- 
sionists, and to fix in their minds the cold, separat- 
ing belief that they had no right to Church fellow- 
ship and communion, unless they would allow him 
to immerse them in some stream, pool, or tank of 
water, his higher, nobler ministry would not have 
left such a sweet odor in the memory of all good 
people who knew him. Like the Apostle of the 
Gentiles, he spread the cement of love on each layer 
of the great temple, while others of his less noble 
brethren spend their efforts in private and public 
in doing the ceremonial business of plunging people 
into water. St. Paul said his commission was not 
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Baptizing, 
then, is not so essential as ceremonialists would have 
it to be. While the good man sleeps, the living 
cherish his memory. 

22 



338 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Kev. H. a. Graves — Dear Sir: — Your card has been on my table 
for some time, but business -cares prevented an earlier reply. 
You ask for incidents and facts in the life of the Rev. A. J. Potter, 
as I have known him, and his relation to such occurrences. Since 
my acquaintance with him we have both been engaged in the itine- 
rant ministry, and I cannot say that any thing exceptional or phe- 
nomenal has come under my observation. Knowing the man, how- 
ever, as I do, I have thought that I could detect in his character 
those elements that furnish the solution of a career remarkable in 
many of its features. The striking incidents and passages in his 
life are known to you, probably, as well as myself, and hence do 
not need rej^etition at my hands. Persons now living have men- 
tioned to me many a strange occurrence, and narrow escape, bold 
adventure, striking display of cool daring, and intrepid courage, and 
wonderful events on the tented field, on the wild frontier, or in the 
sphere of home-life, which illustrate his character and endowments. 
All that I could furnish you would be something in the way of an 
essay, and that, I think, would not comport with the style of your 
work. His has been a most remarkable career, full of thrilling ad- 
venture, and replete with instruction to all who are given to the 
study of that profoundest book, human nature, especially as ex- 
hibited in an original and unique character. "Truth is stranger 
than fiction." Who that knew A. J. Potter in those days spent in 
the sports and excitement of a ,wild, stormy, and reckless life, would 
have seen in such a man the possibility of the humble Christian 
and minister of the Lord Jesus Christ? He was then a terror, if 
not to evil-doers, at least to all who sought to deceive him to his own 
hurt, or who openly or secretly plotted to do him injury. The evil 
upon which he was bent was open to all, and though not charged 
with those crimes which excite abhorrence and disgust, yet he was 
felt to be inimical to good order and the well-being of society. But 
withal, even in those days, he could be trusted — he was never known 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 339 

to forfeit his word, and he would abide by his engagements at the 
cost of life itself. He was trusted by some of the best men of his 
acquaintance. An aged man and blameless Christian was imposed 
upon by a younger and unscrupulous neighbor, who, with threats 
of using the horse-whip, sought to deter the old man from the legit- 
imate use of his own property. The old man — who always acted 
from pure motives — knowing his inability to redress his wrongs, 
sought the counsel of A. J. Potter. Mr. Potter accompanied him 
to the scene of the trespass, and the arrival of the plaintiff and 
counsel settled the dispute at once, and in favor of the old man. 
The threatened horse-whipping was stoutly affirmed to have been 
only a piece of pleasantry. 

From what I have learned of those who knew him in those days, 
there was a boldness and openness in his violations of law and good 
order that in some degree commended him to the peaceable and 
law-abiding. When he committed an act that seemingly merited 
the penalty of the law, there was no want of testimony as to what 
he had done. He acted openly, and in the light of day, and would 
frankly admit the deed. When arraigned for any misdeed, his cool 
and collected manner, and shrewd mother-wit, and power of excit- 
ing the mirth and good-will of the court, often mitigated the pen- 
alty, which was never more than a petty fine, and that before a 
magistrate's court — his offenses never reached the dignity of the 
higher courts. 

The gospel is to be preached to every creature, and A. J. Potter 
is a wonderful exhibition of the reasonableness of the command of 
our Saviour, and the motives to obedience upon the part of those 
charged with the high commission. The gems and diamonds are 
often concealed and imbedded in the coarse clay. The "ore" was 
in the man. We do not depreciate the grace of God, we magnify 
it. Only by the divine method of redemption could he have been 
saved and plucked from the burning. But the materials were of the 
best. There was a patent of nobility in the man, blurred and marred 
by sin, which needed the retouching of the grace of redemption 
to bring out all the letters in clear and bold relief. Those who 
have known him only as the humble Christian and devoted minis- 
ter of the Lord Jesus, feel that he was a man, even in the days of 
his recklessness and abandonment to evil. He was a giant in that 
cause, for it was in him to do nothing by halves; but the courage and 
desperation of the man Avere inspired by original but perverted at- 



840 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tributes of character, and a sense of manhood that never failed him. 
His native abhorrence of meanness and baseness has more than 
once, as your pages will testify, prompted him to the use of carnal 
weapons, and the infliction of penalties, which seem, in him, to be 
legitimate. I believe he has never been arraigned for these things. 
It seems generally to be accorded to A. J. Potter to do some things 
which would meet with due censure in others, and would subject 
them to ecclesiastical pains and penalties. Had some of us, his min- 
isterial associates, committed some things to which he pleads guilty, 
we might have suffered severe censures from our brethren, and been 
damaged in our usefulness. But Potter has done some things for 
which he is not censured by his brethren, and for which, as I have 
knowledge, he is commended by peaceable and law-abiding citizens. 

How exceedingly fertile the resources of our Church in supplying 
the masses of the people with a living ministry — a ministry seem- 
ingly classified and adapted to the wants of the age and the coun- 
try. The frontier of Texas on the west has had the services of A. 
J. Potter. It has been often remarked that the economy of our 
Church is peculiarly adapted to a new and formative period of so- 
ciety. Potter is indispensable to the advancing lines of the west- 
ward move of our population, and the peace of the Church in pro- 
viding for this movement. To the frontier people he carries the 
bread of life, he protects helpless families from the incursions of 
the savages, and is a terror to bad men. A ceaseless care and anx- 
iety for the welfare of wife and children are among the unpleasant 
features of the life of the frontiersman. Those people are attached 
to the man who, as a shepherd, protects their folds from the incur- 
sions of spiritual foes, as well as guards their homes from savage 
raids. To those who have not a personal acquaintance with the 
subject of this sketch, it may be proper to say, that although accus- 
tomed to rough and exciting scenes and a hard life, yet there was in 
hin) a true refinement of manner, and a heart full of love for man- 
kind, and the tenderest sympathy for the sorrows and sufferings of 
others. He was a most valuable counselor to those in distress. The 
writer bears testimony to his strength and power of sympathy and 
prayers in days of sorrow. His own experience would supply him 
with facts, a recital of which would greatly commend the grace of 
God in the subject of this brief sketch, but we refrain in the pres- 
ence of a great sorrow of years now passed. B. H. Harris. 

Luling, April 12, 1881. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 341 

The author of the foregoing letter — the Rev. 
Buckner Harris — is a learned, able, and popular 
minister of the West Texas Conference, now pastor 
of the M. E. Church, South, at Luling, Texas, and 
some years ago was Mr. Potter's presiding elder on 
the frontier, and had to be piloted through the most 
perilous regions by that brave pioneer and his trusty 
"Winchester." Having been so intimately associ- 
ated with him, as a brother minister, and many 
years members of the same Annual Conference, he 
had a good opportunity of reading those ruling 
traits in his Christian character pointed out in his 
short letter. He never knew Mr. Potter in the 
years of his profligacy, but he has touched at some 
of the rudiments lying at the bottom of his forma- 
tive life. They were "diamonds in the rough." 
Having these constitutional elements. Divine Wis- 
dom marked him out as the man for the place he 
has filled so befittingly in later years. The sublime 
image was in the rough marble, and the chisel and 
mallet of the Divine Artist has developed it into 
beautiful features. A grace-refined sinner becomes 
a saint in earthen robes. The gospel-displayed 
power among the lowest grades, and the chiefest of 
sinful men, is nothing else but the power of God 
unto salvation from the most debasing habits of 
vice. Truly does it regenerate men. Then they are 
born again, begin life anew; changed in heart, man 
reforms his outward life. 'No material agencies, no 
moral motives, can remodel his moral nature, can 
change the internal forces which control a sinful 
life. The African cannot change the color of his 



342 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

skill, nor the leopard bis spots, neither can the sin- 
ner turn back his nature's evil tide. Internal sal- 
vation is of God. Man's good intentions and firm 
resolves, under the dictation of an illumined reason, 
pass away like chaff before the first impassioned 
storm of evil desires, often made doubly strong by 
the long force of habit. But when grace has cast 
out the strong-armed man which nature and habit 
have intrenched in the citadel of the heart, it is an 
easy task to turn away from the long-pursued path 
of sinful associations, and enter into the habits and 
alliances of a new and opposite manner of living. 
The fountain cleansed and opened up, the stream 
flows readily to its great estuary. Love is the mo- 
tive-force of a new heart. Love makes all things 
easy, even the toils and hardships which duty may 
enjoin. The sinner promptly gives up his sinful 
deeds because grace, or religion, has taught his 
heart to hate them, and has reversed his affections 
and placed them on divine things. What he used 
to love he now hates, and that which he despised 
he now loves. That is a new heart — it is being born 
again. That, dear reader, is "experimental, heart- 
felt religion." St. Paul styles it being made a " new 
creature" — "changed in the spirit of the mind." 
That is the wonderful secret agency which suddenly 
turned about the entire course of Mr. Potter's life, 
and so devotedly attached him to the Church which 
instrumentally rescued him from the deep mire of 
the pit. 

Mr. Harris mentions some acts in the Christian 
term of Mr. Potter's career as being censurable in 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 343 

other men, and perhaps objectionable in him, though 
looked over by both civil and ecclesiastical courts. 
We suppose he made reference to his knocking 
down a man in the church at Prairie Lee, his con- 
test with the desperado at Boerne, and his difficulty 
with the young braggart — all recorded in separate 
chapters in this book. These events were severely 
trying to his ministerial graces, and as much as the 
circumstances leading thereto may be cause of re- 
gret, yet we have not met any one familiar with 
them who has administered a censure on him for 
the deeds. Manner and motives have much to do in 
making up the moral coloring of human conduct. 
Not that the old Romish doctrine that "the motive 
sanctifies the deed " is true. It is true that no deed 
is virtuous without a good underlying motive, but 
good intentions do not sanctify unlawful acts. To 
do evil, hoping for good results, is not admissible; 
but there are some deeds of men along the border, 
where the distinctive line runs, marking the part- 
ing of good and evil, where one ceases and the other 
begins, about which men may not agree as to their 
moral type, that good motives and a Christian-tem- 
pered manner may so palliate as to deprive them 
of guilt and rob them of censure. Such were the 
acts alluded to by Mr. Harris. His motives were 
good, and his manner was not of vengeful wrath. 
He only sought to protect himself and secure his 
rights. Any good man may have good motives, 
but the spirit of the manner of doing things may 
materially differ with men, and greatly alter their 
character and results. Even a deed of charity may 



844 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

lose its pleasant benefits on the recipient by the os- 
tentatious manner of its bestowment. So likewise 
inflictions of chastisement on a rebellious child in 
the temper and manner of kindness is a good deed, 
but the same punishment administered in an ill- 
tempered spirit and malignant manner partakes of 
the evil. In all Mr. Potter's administering merited 
retribution on bad men, his manner was not spiced 
with any bitterness. When he knocked a man 
down it was only to prevent his doing a greater in- 
jury, and he never went farther than that. There 
he ended his strife. He could have bruised, man- 
gled, and killed, but that w^as not his motive; he 
had no raging temper to satiate. When his antag- 
onist was secured against farther harm to himself 
or others, he was ready to pity, to forgive, and to 
relieve. His attacks were never made on the unof- 
fending; good men never feared him. 

We have treated at some length in another chap- 
ter the scriptural doctrine of retaliation, or resist- 
ance of evil; but the subject demands our attention 
in relation to some allusions in this chapter. We 
here state that the notion of total non-resistance of 
the evil efforts of wicked men to injure our person 
or property, cannot be the doctrine of the ^N'ew 
Testament. It is true, however, that non-resistance 
in all minor matters is there plainly inculcated; but 
in things which materially endanger life, limb, health, 
and our living, or property, it cannot be intended 
to be therein taught. When our Saviour said that 
if smitten on one cheek we should turn the other also, 
he could have meant no more than the lesser insults 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 345 

and minor injuries entailed on us by our fellows. 
He also said, If sued at the law for your coat, let 
your cloak go also. But the apostolic Christians 
did not construe that moral teaching of Jesus to 
deprive them of legal redress for wrongs, for they 
went to law for a righting of their claims; and St. 
Paul never entered up blame against them for the 
act of going to law, but for law^ing before unjust 
magistrates when there w^ere Christian judges before 
whom they might settle their differences. But 
Jesus never said. Let a man take your horse, and do 
not resist him: he only said, Let your cloak go. 
There is a difference between some horses and some 
cloaks. That desperado at Boerne was taking off 
Mr. Potter's horse, and surely his religion did not 
bind him to let him go on without an effort to re- 
gain it. The immortal Teacher also said, in the 
same connection. If compelled to go a mile, go two, 
which gives unto that memorable paragraph the 
coloring of a symbol — that is to say, that in all 
things where greater evils are likely to result than 
good, it is best not to resist, but to submit; and 
where I am asked to be kind, to be liberal, and do 
more than j)etitioned for, if need be. Liberality is 
safe in deeds of kindness, but not so in acts of an- 
ger. St. Paul said, In understanding be ye men, 
but be children in the evil. So also we may say to 
all men, Be ye giants in the good, but infants in the 
hurtful. Not that it is truly needful that a man 
must inflict some pains and penalties on his fellows 
in passing through the world, but that there are 
times and conditions in which it is best and proper 



346 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to administer painful but temporary injuries on 
some men to prevent their greater damage to you 
or to others. The penalties of all laws root in this 
principle. To guard against harm to one's self, and 
wrong to others, law^ deprives men of liberty, and 
even of life. In organized and refined society the 
individual is expected to give up his personal right 
to self-defense, or redress of injuries, to the civil 
law. But what is a man to do where he is endan- 
gered, and there are no agents or officers of the law 
at hand to give him security against harm, or where 
the custodians of law do not care to execute the 
mandates of law to shield the innocent? Is he to 
cry out for help when none is in hearing, or when 
help has not an ear to hear? In the frontier- wilds 
of West Texas, in the days of Mr. Potter's pugna- 
cious contacts with pugilists, population was sparse- 
ly strewn along her vast plains, and in many places 
officers of law were not inclined to tackle such dan- 
gerous outlaws as Mr. Potter coolly encountered. 
In those instances he took the place of deputies of 
law, and all law-abiding citizens felt the benefit of 
his semi-official acts, and approved them. So cir- 
cumstances, motives, and manner, have much to do 
in giving a moral coloring to otherwise unallowable 
acts of men, especially with those called to officiate 
as ministers of religion — that religion designed to 
save men, not to destroy them. But what Mr. Pot- 
ter could do, and remain uncensured for, would at- 
tach guilt to the writer, because not the man for the 
place. He could bruise the body and whisper peace 
to the soul. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 347 

In Mr. Harris's letter he tells us that he has person- 
al experience of Mr. Potter's ability to counsel and 
comfort the afflicted in days of gloom and sorrow. 
He there refers to that dark day of years long fled, 
when God took from him the wife of his 3'outh, and 
the young mother of his little ones, in the city of San 
Antonio. She was a noble Christian woman, of whom 
the world was not worthy; but she has joined the 
holy ranks of friends and kindred dear on the im- 
mortal shore. Mr. Potter visited her in her last days 
on the earth, and prayed and talked with her and her 
disconsolate husband. She was happy, and when he 
parted with her, he told her that it was probable they 
might not meet again till the joyous greeting on 
the othei; shore. "And now you are happy, but 
when you pass into Jordan's chilly waters, leave me 
a message as to your prospects then." When she 
was far out in the cold waters of that last river, she 
feebly whispered, " Tell Brother Potter all is well! " 
and the angel-bands on the other shore sent that 
message back into their shining ranks, ''AH is well ! " 
Truly, to the young husband that was a day of great 
sorrow — its gloom veiled his heart as the shadow 
of a dark storm-cloud on the bosom of the sea. 
Earth's bereaved millions have seen its darkness 
and felt the pressure of its weight of griefs. The 
writer has passed under its dismal shading. For 
twenty-one years his youthful companion has slept 
with strangers near the bank of the Brazos, where 
its gulf and mountain -waters mingle, and where 
the waving, long gray moss sprinkles her grave with 
rain-dripping tears. what a dread catastrophe 



348 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

has befallen earth! Why that parting of love-uni- 
iied hearts? In some sylvan home may earth's sor- 
row-riven children meet to die no more! Reader, 
be of that nnmber of happy one«. 

After writing the foregoing, Mr. Potter's notice 
of the occasion, in the Texas Christian Advocate, hsLQ 
come to us, which we here copy: 

"How happy are those who die in the faith of 
Jesus Christ! What sacred peace! what divine 
transport! what emotions of love, of joy, and of 
confidence, do they then experience! As the out- 
ward man perishes the inward man gains strength 
and vigor. The death-bed distinguishes the believ- 
er, and renders him an object worthy the notice of 
men and angels. It is there that he appears victo- 
rious over the world. He is in the world without 
taking part in its concerns — he is in the body, not 
being attached to it. He rejoices in hope of the 
glory of God. He walks with tranquillity through 
the valley of the shadow of death, and fears no 
evil, amid all its objects of dread, for his God is 
with him, and sustains him in the final hour. His 
faith too penetrates through the clouds of mortality 
yet surrounding him. He looks within the veil, and 
beholds his glorious Redeemer ready to receive his 
unimprisoned spirit; he sees the eternal inheritance 
for which he has so often sung and sighed in the 
land of shadows. He is n earing the heavenly home 
— 'city of the living God.' Even now^ he is filled 
with the glorious presence of the Divine which holy 
souls enjoy in the fadeless realms unseen. He is 
now on the borders of ' the beautiful land,' ' the in- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 349 

heritance of the saints in light.' O how near to 
the holy ranks of angels and kindred dear! He can 
hear the immortal harpers chanting the *song of 
Moses and the Lamb.' He longs to join the celes- 
tial symphonies. ]N"ow ' the clouds disperse, the 
shadows fly/ and immortal day dawns upon the 
soul. So our lamented Sister Harris passed into the 
light of endless day. 

"No words spoken or written linger with such 
tenacity about memory's heart as the last message 
of a dying loved one. The last lines traced by a 
dear hand, now cold in dust, print themselves on 
the unforgotten page — mementoes left us by the 
long-absent dead which ruthless time cannot fade. 

"These reflections were called up by meditating 
on the triumphant death of Sister Harris. The 
consoling message she sent to the writer from near 
the celestial bank of the mystic river, comes as a 
herald from regions immortal. Raising her hand 
in token of victory, she whispered, ^Tell Brother 
Potter all is well!^ That message was delivered to 
me in sobs and tears by the bereaved husband, after 
his departed Georgia had joined the ' Church of 
the first born.' 

"Here we laid our hand on her grave, and looked 
up to heaven and implored a death like hers, know- 
ing the unseen heavens contained her departed 
spirit, too pure for an earthly tabernacle now. Faith 
almost sees her in her glory, and hears the sweet 
notes of her lute of heavenly tone. may we, 
when far out on the chilly wave, be permitted, like 
her, to send back to weeping friends, 'All is ivell!'" 



350 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

The foregoing pathetic outflow of a Christian 
heart indicates the deep tide of pure sympathy 
which ever flowed from that devoted man of God 
about the couch of suflering and the abodes of sor- 
row, and at the same time reveals the strength of 
his faith in the consolations of that blessed gospel 
he was commissioned to preach to the living and 
the dying. He had an inward knowledge of the 
saving power of that gospel. He felt in himself 
some of the prelibations of the hope he commended 
to the acceptance of others. Under its heavenly 
fruitions he could sweetly sing: 

In hope of that immortal crown, 
I now the cross sustain. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 351 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

The reader is now invited to read an interesting 
chapter from the pen of the Rev. J. S. Gillett, the 
presiding elder who " killed the rabbit," as seen in 
another chapter. Mr. Gillett wrote this chapter, not 
knowing what incidents the author had already in- 
serted in the book; and we put it in type in Mr. 
Gillett's own handwriting, without any alteration, 
as it will serve to confirm the exact truthfulness of 
the many incidents narrated in this biography. The 
minor differences in Mr. Gillett's detail of the inci- 
dents narrated by him and those of the author do 
not affect the leading primal facts. Mr. Gillett wrote 
from memory, after the lapse of several 3^ears, and 
the author wrote from the direct verbal or written 
statement of Mr. Potter. Indeed, the entire volume 
of incidents and facts, as relating to Mr. Potter, are 
penned after Mr. Potter's verbal statement or recent- 
ly written diary. Mr. Gillett has the leading facts 
all right. He and Mr. Potter are truly brethren and 
friends, and while memory holds her throne they 
can never forget the many pleasant seasons they had 
together while passing alone through the wild soli- 
tudes of this vast Indian-infested land, when they 
did not know at what moment the heartless savage 
might claim their scalps. Dangers endured together 
endear men to each other with ties that the erosions 



352 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

of time can never fret away. O dear reader, these 
border preachers, who have toiled and suffered to- 
gether, are indeed brethren! 

" Both in theory and in practice the Christian sys- 
tem is without a parallel in the history of the world. 
In theory, it is faultless; in practice, it aims at and, 
w^here unobstructed by the human will, attains per- 
fection. There is no deformity here. The one is 
the counterpart of the other. There is nothing 
merely theoretical in all that grand philosophy 
which had its origin with the incarnate Son of God. 
In all its details it was the divine intention that 
Christianity should be lived^ enjoyed. Hence its uni- 
versal adaptation and its personal approach, its all- 
encompassing invitations and its individual encour- 
agements. l!Tor is this all. In point of fact, the 
divine origin and value of Christianity has been at- 
tested as often as the guilty have come in God's own 
appointed way seeking salvation. It is the boast 
of our religion that it saves. Regeneration is its 
central idea whence radiates all good — the new life. 
These are the promised, the expected results of faith 
in the Son of God. These are the fruits, in brief, 
which come to all who are * justified from all things 
by the faith that is in them.' This is no new doc- 
trine. It is as old, at least, as the ministry of Jesus 
Christ; yet it has all the vigor of youth; it bears 
none of the marks of age or infirmity; men are 
saved now as in the ages past. The living, as 
well as the dead, are the witnesses. Let us take 
two: About a quarter of a century ago there were 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 353 

two young men, boon companions in vice, without 
wealth, or refinement, or culture, bent only upon 
making provision for the flesh to live after the flesh, 
and wholly oblivious to the high and holy purposes 
of human life and destiny. They were Alexander 
A. Smithwick and Andrew J. Potter. In the midst 
of great recklessness of life the arresting hand of 
God was laid upon the former, and from his sick-bed 
he saw his duty and his danger. The impressions 
of that hour were never forgotten. Its divine con- 
victions, its holy inspirations were followed up, or 
he was rather led by them into the marvelous light 
and liberty of the children of God. The transfor- 
mation was complete: he lived in another world; 
he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. But Potter 
was not there. When he heard of his friend's (to 
him, unaccountable) change, he was like one bereft. 
Sadness took possession of his heart. He was alone 
now. But he had confidence in Smithwick. He 
knew he would tell him the truth. He would see 
him, and hear the story of his conversion from his 
own lips. If religion, according to Smithwick, was 
true. Potter must have it. They met; the confer- 
ence was short and simple; the witness was willing, 
direct, positive. Potter's decision was taken; he 
must know for himself, and it was not long until he 
did know : the friends rejoiced together. Both were 
moved by the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel; but 
here was a difiiculty: They had only the grace of, 
God, good minds, and strong bodies — no mean fac- 
tors, to be sure, in such a work; ay, indispensable 
to it, but by no means the only conditions of sue- 



354 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

cess. There must be training, thought, culture, the 
very things these young men lacked, if the largest 
results are to be expected. Friends doubted, the 
Church hesitated, and finally, in the case of Potter, 
refused. But the call was imperative: they must 
preach, and they did. In the fall of 1859 Alexan- 
der A. Smithwick was admitted on trial into the 
Texas Conference, and transferred to the Rio Grande 
Mission Conference, and appointed to the Helena 
Circuit. He gave great promise of usefulness, and 
was full of zeal, but the next year, 1860, God took 
him. He fell, ere he had reached the zenith of his 
usefulness, beloved by his charge, and in full pros- 
pect of heaven. His remains repose in the church- 
yard at Sandies Chapel, now of Pancho Circuit. 

"In the year 1865 Mr. Potter was received into 
the West Texas Conference. He was now fairly 
committed to the work of his life, and soon devel- 
oped into a first-class frontier Methodist preacher, 
which, by the way, is no mean distinction. Dan- 
gers, privations, and toils, among the hardy frontiers- 
men, have such attractions for him, that he stands 
a constant volunteer for that very work which most 
men instinctively shrink from. Of course, his wish 
has been gratified, and in consequence he is known 
and respected in almost every neighborhood and 
village throughout the whole extent of our Western 
border. If he glories in it, who shall censure? if he 
is proud of it, who shall say he has not the right? 
And let it be put in this permanent form, that he 
who in times past was addicted to almost every form 
of vice, has not only been actively employed in 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 355 

* spreading scriptural holiness over these lands/ 
but has furnished, in his own person, one of the 
brightest illustrations of the power of divine grace 
to renew depraved humanity, and keep in the way 
of life the trusting soul. One such illustration is 
of priceless worth. A good life is the best argu- 
ment. In the presence of purity even blatant infi- 
delity is dumb with silence. 'Who shall lay any 
thing to the charge of God's elect? ' But there is 
nothing somber in Potter's piety, nothing ascetic. 
His whole life, with all its surroundings, forbids the 
very thought. He is J^ature's own child, as blithe 
as the birds, and as joyous as the lambs that skip 
in the sunlight. Yet he knows how to be severe, 
and, upon occasion, to stand up manfully for his 
rights. This last remark may be taken in a two- 
fold sense, for he is lacking in neither moral noi 
physical courage: he is a true friend and a deter- 
mined foe. But he is not a stirrer up of strife — he 
loves peace, he abuses nc man's privileges, takes 
away the rights of none. Still, it cannot be denied 
that sometimes, when he is for peace, they are for 
war; and when nothing else will do. Potter knows 
how to fight. This is now so well known that he 
comes and goes at pleasure, no man forbidding him. 

"For the purpose of illustrating his fighting ca- 
pacity, and to satisfy those who may be disposed to 
criticise this propensity of his nature — to show, in 
a word, that there is 'method in his madness,' and 
that he does nothing in this direction without cause, 
the following incidents are inserted: 

" On one occasion, happening to be at the house of 



856 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

a friend who was from home, a rough came in, and be- 
gan to use obscene language in the presence of the la- 
dies of the family. Potter unceremoniously put him 
out of the house. The man went to the gate, ob- 
tained his revolver, and came back. Potter, who w^as 
unarmed, would have gone forth to meet him, but 
was restrained by the ladies who, seeing the danger, 
drew him into the house, and shut the door. The 
desperado, finding himself foiled, left, cooll}' faking 
Mr. Potter's horse with him. This was too much. 
Potter got out, ran across a lot, and intercepted the 
would-be thief, who dismounted, pistol in hand, and 
advanced upon him. Nothing daunted, however. 
Potter seized a stone, and, before his adversary had 
time to shoot, knocked him down, and leaped upon 
him. Then came 'the tug of war.' It was now 
a hand-to-hand conflict, and Potter was hardly a 
match for him physically. But stoned were abun- 
dant, and as often as he seemed about to rise. Pot- 
ter would knock him on the head, and settle him 
for awhile. In the meantime the sheriff and his 
jposse — all Germans — came in sight. They had been 
after the man who had whipped out the town, and 
seeing the preacher with their man down, cried out, 
'Hold him, Mr. Botter! hold him, Mr. Botter!' 
which he did until they came up. The man was 
jailed. Next day, at the trial, appeared Potter, un- 
solicited, and without fee or reward, to plead for 
him who but yesterday sought to take away his life. 
" Such is the man. It is not contended that in all 
cases the cause is as just as in this instance, but 
when Potter fights, to him, at least, there is reason 



Andreav Jackson Potter. 357 

for it, and to others, as a rule, there is room for am- 
ple justification. Still, he regrets these experiences, 
and thinks, and says, as often as thej occur, 'This 
shall be m}^ last.' This statement is made with 
special pleasure, for while it may be necessary some- 
times to fight, yet no man, and especially no 
preacher, should defend the practice, or glory in it. 
Rather, 'let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord.' 
In the work, however, to which our brother is com- 
mitted there are dangers as well as difficulties, and 
a man of less spirit might be appalled in their pres- 
ence. It cannot be doubted that the very traits of 
character which fit a man for a work like this, would 
prompt him to deal summarily with all offenders. 
The country being nev/ and uninhabited in many 
places, save by predatory bands of savages, of 
course there must be long trips, with much expos- 
ure, both from inclement weather and unscrupulous 
foes, and Potter has experienced the hard contact 
of both. Once, as he crossed from Frio Canon to 
Sabinal Caiion, a rough and uninhabited mountain 
region, where already slept the dead victims of sav- 
age barbarity, he saw several Indians passing down 
a ravine, with the evident intention of intercepting 
him. He quickly tied his horses, and taking his 
Winchester rifle in his hand, ran on until he came 
near the place they were aiming for, and took his 
stand. He did not have long to wait. The stal- 
wart sons of the forest came out into an open 
place, and paused to listen for the rumble of his 
buggy -wheels and to make observations. Potter 
tried to shoot, but his gun missed fire. One of 



358 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the Indians then shot at him, ahiiost striking his 
arm. He tried again, this time with better suc- 
cess, for, as he fired, the Indian's gun fell from his 
hands. The savages beat a hasty retreat. Potter 
ran back to his buggy, and, taking a good position 
for defense, awaited developments. Two Indians 
soon appeared on the mountain, and fired at him 
from a very safe distance. He took out his pipe 
and smoked while they exchanged shots, but he has 
since confessed that it was more for the moral efiect 
than for enjoyment. It was not indeed a tender of 
the calumet of peace — it was simply to say, 'Who's 
afraid?' The effect was fine — he 'bluffed' them, 
and they left. Potter claims that he 'got meat;' 
he knows that they did not. 

" The two cases given above are typical of the 
rest. In all there is the same dash and the same 
show of justice, at least in part. There is also a 
touch of the serio-comic in Potter's nature. He can 
appear to be serious, and yet do the most amusing 
things. At one of his appointments there were 
some young men who persisted in going to the 
mourner's-bench for their own sport; they had done 
so for a long while. Potter found it out, but they 
were ignorant of his knowledge of their conduct. 
So they agreed that at the next service they would 
go in a group to the altar of prayer. One of their 
number was to lead the way, but when the time 
came he alone of all the group had the courage to 
venture. Alone he knelt at the mercy-seat, prac- 
ticing a lie. The singing over, Potter said, 'Breth- 
ren and sisters, here is a poor sinner who has sought 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 359 

religion a long time without success: come, let us 
gather around him, and help him to the Saviour. 
And now, Dick [addressing the penitent], you have 
been a great sinner, and if you want salvation you 
must pray. While we pray for you, you must pray 
for yourself. Pray, Dick!' said he, with great em- 
phasis of voice and fist — for he delivered the whole 
strength of his right arm full upon the back of the 
crouching mourner. Then followed Other exhorta- 
tions with peltings, until the sham mourner w^as not 
a sham sufferer, in the flesh at least. He stood it 
for awhile, but at last his powers of endurance 
could hold out no longer. He arose running, and 
made his escape, a sorer and a wiser man. 

"He also enjoys a joke, and that must indeed be 
a dry case that furnishes Potter no occasion for 
merriment. Witness the following: He and his 
presiding elder were personal friends. They were 
often together exchanging views, talking of things 
they knew and did not know, or discussing ques- 
tions social, domestic, and private. In one of those 
free and easy conversations, in which the question 
of food was being discussed, Potter remarked that 
he was fond of rabbits. The remark was not for- 
gotten by the presiding elder. So hearing one day 
that Potter and his wife would dine at his house 
that day, he took his gun and shot a rabbit, and had 
it dressed, especially for his guest, intending to 
serve the rest of the company with other meats, of 
which there was an abundance, and to have a good 
laugh at his friend's expense. Dinner came. Potter 
ate, and said nothing, aud the matter was forgotten 



360 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

by the crowd. Some time after this they attended 
a quarterly-meeting together, in a distant charge, 
and Potter begged the privilege of taking up a col- 
lection for the support of the ministry (as was usual 
in those days), which, being granted, he proceeded 
to do. He took his presiding elder for a text, and 
spoke in substance as follows: 'Brethren, the pre- 
siding elder comes to you once a quarter; you see 
him well dressed; he preaches well, and attends to 
the duties of his office, and you may think he is in 
need of nothing; but you should see him as I have,' 
etc. Then followed a graphic description of the man 
at home, surrounded by his wife and children, of 
his dress, his multitude of duties accumulated in 
his absence while serving the Church, of his house 
and little patch of ground, and whatever else was 
necessary to complete a picture of extreme poverty. 
By this time the congregation was in tears; but he 
did not reach the climax until, in the midst of min- 
gled tears and smiles, he cried in tones of thunder, 
'Why, my brethren, wife and I dined with him a 
short time since, and he had to go out and kill a 
rabbit for dinner! ' Then came out the secret of his 
great interest in that special collection: he had been 
weeks in laying his plan to get even, and in prepar- 
ing that speech, which, it must be confessed, was 
successful, for he got the cash. 

" There are many things of interest which might 
be called up, and w^hich would appropriately occupy 
a place in a book, but which must, of necessity, be 
excluded from the brief limits of a chapter; but let 
this suffice. His record is on high. Ko doubt 'the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 361 

day' will reveal mari}^ an essential fact in his event- 
ful life, passed over in silence here, and which shall 
constitute, in part at least, his crown of rejoicing 
forever; for the things which attract the eyes of 
mortals are not always the most valuable, while the 
little and despised assume at last the proportions 
of stars of the first magnitude. Of one thing, how- 
ever, we may be sure: nothing shall be lost, for God 
will group together in that day love and labors, toil 
and triumphs, and out of these shall come 'a large 
reward.' 

" Who can tell how wide-extended is the work of 
his own hands? how potent for good! how capable 
of evil ! But the time will come when he shall know. 
Ay, in advance he knows that this brings life, while 
that brings only death. Yet eternity alone shall 
reveal the length, and breadth, and depth, and 
height, of all his doings. In the final summing up, 
when life is under divine inspection, when charac- 
ter and work shall be thrown together into the 
crucible, may there come forth immortality and a 
crown ! J. S. Gillett. 

''San Marcos, Texas, June 3, 1881." 



362 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

In the fall of 1878 the Conference was held at San 
Marcos, and Mr. Potter was sent to the Mason and 
Brady Mission, with the Rev. I. K. Waller as junioi 
preacher, and the Rev. W. T. Thornberry presiding 
elder, and there were two able local preachers in the 
bounds of the mission — the Revs. J. J). Worrell and 
J. T. Williams. Mr. Worrell settled there twen- 
ty years ago, when all that frontier was a vast wil- 
derness, and has aided in planting and cultivating 
the Church amid all the extreme hazards of those 
early days, and is now almost a necessity in Zion's 
field. He is a merchant, and still preaches along 
the border. He is fast ripening for that golden har- 
vest-day when angel reapers shall gather in the rip- 
ened sheaves. As he says in his letter, to heaven 
it is hoped he shall be gathered into that eternal 
garner. The Rev. Mr. Williams is a lawyer, but he 
is likewise a faithful minister of Christ, and during 
this year he did great service in aid of I. K. Waller, 
who, after the opening of spring, was left alone on 
the mission, as will be seen. 

The mission was a hundred miles from Mr. Pot- 
ter's home. The long winter's travel, and camping 
out on the cold earth, in the norther's chilling blast, 
caused his health to decline; and the mission was 
poor, and the appropriation small ; so it was discov- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 363 

ered that, all in all, the two preachers could not get 
a support. Mr. Waller being a single man and a 
good preacher, Mr. Potter's health threatening, and 
the charge so far from his home, Mr. Thornberry, 
the presiding elder, excused him from the work the 
rest of the year, except to attend the camp-meet- 
ings and the quarterly-meetings, and to keep an ac- 
count of the work, and report to the Annual Con- 
ference, which he did. 

Mr. Waller did a good work, with the help of the 
local brethren just mentioned, and left the Church 
in a growing condition. In the meanwhile, Mr. 
Potter traveled largely as an evangelist, and held 
many gracious meetings with his brethren almost 
all over the Conference. He spent several weeks 
with his devoted friend, the Eev. T. G. Wools, in 
the town of Goliad, preaching to large, interested 
3ongregations, and had an interesting time indeed. 
Here some liberal friends contributed generously to 
his support. 

The reader will remember that old Goliad is of 
liistoric fame. There the lamented Fannin and his 
brave men fell under the rage of Mexican cruelty. 
It is now denizened with an intelligent, virtuous, 
and generous class of enterprising citizens, having 
large and prosperous churches, with one of the finest 
schools in the West, under the presidency of Pro- 
fessor Brooks, a teacher of unexcelled notoriety. 
The Methodist church there is the finest in the 
West, and it is one of the best stations in the Con- 
ference. It is honored with one of the very best 
stewards the writer has ever met. He is a lawyer 



364 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and an efficient steward. All finances are kept to 
the front, not allowed to lag behind. M. M. Shive's 
name will find a record in the page of Goliad Meth- 
odism. Among this noble people Mr. Potter spent 
those several pleasant weeks, and after many long, 
prosperous journeys among his brethren that sum- 
mer and fall, he repaired to the Mason and Brady 
Mission, and adjusted matters for the closing year, 
and then went up to the Conference at Gonzales 
with a good report from the mission and his evan- 
gelical tours at large. 

It was now evident to the ruling spirits that the 
border-work was so extended that a new district 
was a necessity, and that the same necessity pointed 
to Mr. Potter as the man for the place, Accord- 
ingly, he received the appointment as presiding elder 
on the newly-formed Mason District. Immediately 
after the publication of the appointment his numer- 
ous friends hailed it with delight, and freely ex- 
pressed a sense of gratitude to the Conference for 
conferring an honor so long deserved on their zeal- 
ous pioneer minister, who had so often put his life 
at peril for their religious edification. Dr. Jacob 
West, of Boerne, a member of the Baptist Com- 
munion, no sectarian in an ofitensive sense, a neigh- 
bor and friend to Mr. Potter, for the sake of his 
merits, published in the Union Land Register, a 
weekly sheet printed in Boerne, his grateful emo- 
tions on learning of his promotion, at the same time 
touching some salient points of merit in the career 
of Mr. Potter, a copy of which we here furnish the 
reader: 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 365 

Rev. H. a. Graves: — I herewith send yon the Union Land 
Register, containing my article about the Eev. A. J. Potter, as you 
request. Please return it. Jacob West, M.D. 

Boerne, May 9, 1881. 

Tills communication is headed "Elder A. J. Potter." 

The prefix, "Elder," is the Baptist cognomen for 

their pastors. 

ELDER A. J. POTTER. 

Editor Union Land Register: — We are commanded in the 
Holy Scriptures to love God with all our heart, and our neighbor 
as ourselves. In accordance with this principle, we feel as much re- 
joiced at the success of our neighbor as if we had shared in his 
good fortune. The Rev. A. J. Potter held on Saturday and Sunday 
last his first quarterly-meeting and conference, with the Church in 
Boerne, since his promotion to the important position of presiding 
elder. He performed the duties of his new office in a manner that 
reflected credit to himself and gave general and pleasant satisfac- 
tion to all the parties concerned. Energy, and executive capacity, 
and financial ability, are three very important and requisite quali- 
ties possessed by our new elder in a remarkable degree. In proof 
of his energy and untiring zeal, we have but to refer to the difficul- 
ties, dangers, and tribulations over which he has come out more 
than conqueror, throughout his vast and rugged field of labor, on 
the frontier of civilization. In proof of his executive capacity, we 
need only point to the order and Christian harmony that he has 
brought up out of chaos and moral insubordination. The Churches 
and Sabbath-scliools which have sprung up in his field of labor will 
stand as more lasting monuments of his eftbrts in the cause of moral 
reformation and pure Christianity than Avould piles of marble or mon- 
uments of brass. And as to his financial ability, we need only refer 
to the fact that, notwithstanding his duties have required that his en- 
tire time should be devoted to his work, and notwithstanding the small 
pittance in the way of pecuniary compensation, he has managed to 
keep his home, and raise a large family of children, and is giving 
them a pretty fair chance to acquire the rudiments of an English 
education. He can fully appreciate the advantages of a liberal ed- 
ucation, because in his youth he did not enjoy that blessing. We 
have known the Elder for several years as a citizen, preacher, and 
neighbor, and take pleasure in stating that in every position in life 



366 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

his honesty and integrity have never been questioned. We were 
much rejoiced when we heard that a simple act of justice had been 
done; that his services had been appreciated, and the honors, re- 
sponsibilities, and duties of the eldership were conferred upon him, 
not because of his great fluency of speech, nor for his powers of el- 
ocution and oratory, but because of his great individual merit, his 
personal worth, and his useful life. The time will come when the 
correct history of Methodism in the frontier counties of Western 
Texas will be written. Then the life and work of the humble and 
indefatigable pioneer of the cross will stand forth in bold relief — 
the trials, troubles, and dangers, the struggles with poverty at home, 
as well as the many narrow escapes from the wild beasts of the forest, 
and the more subtle and unrelenting foe, the savage Indian. His 
life so far has been full of thrilling incidents, worthy of collection 
and commemoration by the Methodist Church, in making the slow 
but sure steps that Christianity and civilization have made in those 
Western wilds, through sorrow and pain, through fire and blood. 
But under all circumstances A. J. Potter has kept aloft the banner 
of the cross — has preached Jesus Christ and him crucified to a lost 
and dying world. Jacob West. 

That letter contains a hearty and deserved com- 
mendation of the life and character of Mr. Potter, 
which we have striven to render legible in these 
pages. Integrity, zeal, promptitude, valor, firmness, 
piety, cheerfulness, kindness, and hospitality, are all 
portrayed; hut we place a higher estimate on his 
pulpit talent than that letter would seem to award 
him — usually above mediocrity, but often grand 
and lucidly brilliant, when an encouraging prospect 
promises good results. Dr. West is always closely 
worked in his medical profession, and does not often 
enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary, and seldom 
anywhere else has he heard Mr. Potter, except at 
Boerne, a German town, where Protestant congre- 
gations are small, and not many flattering hopes of 
a harvest of good results. To preach under such 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 367 

conditions is often like getting up precipitous cliffs, 
and rugged at that. Out at camp and quarterly- 
meetings, where anxious crowds gather about the 
preacher to hear his message, is like putting a new 
pair of wings to the soul of the preacher; then Mr. 
Potter is often powerfully grand in handling sacred 
truth. Mr. West truthfully states that his name 
shall occupy a prominent place in the history of 
Methodism on this frontier-zone of two hundred 
and fifty miles. His name must come first and last. 



868 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Mr. Potter visited a military post on the frontier. 
At these posts little towns spring up by citizens set- 
tling near them for trading purposes, and gambling 
men, who follow no other profession, gather there 
to gain a living by their skill in the use of dice 
or cards. These men sometimes number nearly a 
hundred about such towns, and when "pay-day" 
arrives with the soldiers these shrewd gamers have 
a harvest-time in winning the wages of the poor 
soldier. They constituted a large portion of the 
hearers when Mr. Potter would preach at such 
places, and for the most part were quiet, orderly 
men in society, in daylight. At this time and place 
one of their number had died, and just as they 
were about to start to the grave for interment they 
heard of the arrival of the preacher, who was a re- 
formed gambler, and they sent a messenger after 
him to perform the burial service. Finding him, 
the messenger said, "One of our men has died, and 
we are ready to put him away under ground, but 
we don't like to bury him as a dog: can't you come 
and give him a kind of religious send-off?" The 
preacher accompanied him. It was eai-ly twilight 
when they reached the grave, and as it was a sol- 
emn hour, and a good time to impress moral truths 
on the minds of that singular crowd, after the usual 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 369 

ritualistic ceremonies he delivered a serious lecture 
to them over the grave of their fallen associate in 
the forbidden walks of life. He told them that 
"the life of every man may be compared to a river 
rising in obscurity, increasing by the accession of 
tributaries, and, after flowing through a longer or 
shorter distance, losing itself in some common re- 
ceptacle. The lives of individuals also, like the 
courses of rivers, may be more or less extensive, but 
will all, sooner or later, vanish and disappear in the 
ocean of eternity. Whilst a stream continues with- 
in its banks it fertilizes, enriches, and improves, the 
regions through which it flows; but if it deserts its 
channel it becomes injurious and destructive, a sort 
of public nuisance; and by stagnating into pools, 
or lakes, or wet marshes, it dift'uses pestilence and 
death all along its way. Some rivers glide away 
into obscurity, while others become celebrated, trav- 
erse continents, give names to countries, and set 
boundaries to empires; some are tranquil and gen- 
tle in their course, while others rush forward in 
torrents, dash over precipices, terminating in fright- 
ful cataracts, which pour down their foaming liquid 
into the hurrying stream below. But, however di- 
versified their characters, or in whatever direction 
they may wind their tortuous channels, all their di- 
versified waters eventually mix in the vast oceans. 

*'Men are born, and live, and die, in diflferent 
countries. They follow various trades and occupa- 
tions: some are beneficial, others are hurtful; some 
reach altitudes in fame, some remain in the de- 
graded vale; but all meet in the common grave — 
24 



870 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

'dust to dust, ^arth to earth.' Here all meet — the 
great, the small — good and evil fall into the gloomy 
grave. It shall be well with the righteous, but ill 
with the wicked. Our dead bodies shall arise to 
live again. Time shall end, the last day shall come, 
and nio:ht shall be no more. The voice of Jehovah 
and the archangel's trump shall speak to the dead 
in their long sleep, and awake them to life. Then 
too shall this stranger rise up again, while all the 
ages shall deliver up their fallen millions, to meet 
the great Judge, who shall deal justice to men." 

How grand and solemn the night-scene at the 
fresh grave! The cold, pale body encoffined there, 
is soon to be lowered to its last resting-place in the 
earth's silent mansion, and there hid in darkness 
till all the ages have passed. Night's dismal shades 
mantle the earth, while all the distant stars seem to 
stand far off in their deep blue homes and gaze 
steadily down on the gloomy crowd. There stands 
the preacher and the sad listeners, while a cloud of 
witnesses look down on the melancholy group from 
the battlements of the brighter heaven; but among 
that happy celestial throng can there be a kindred 
one viewing that dismal grave, and the crest-fallen 
band about it ? Then might immortal friends weep 
over the ruin of dear ones here. But no; celestial 
saved ones may see the doom of related spirits, as 
Abraham saw the fate of Dives, but they have no 
tears to shed. 

Here we are reminded that religion is the last 
hope of man. However far he may tread the path 
of sin, he desires the light of religious hope to shine 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 371 

on the end thereof. The mantle of her charity 
most spread over his grave, and the glory of her 
hopes must illumine the other shore. How wicked 
soever he may have heen in life, and though no 
penitent tear may have moistened his dying eye, yet 
the minister of religion must plant the sprig of her 
cheering hopes at the head of the sinner's tomb. 
"Can't you," said his living companion in vice, 
"give him a religious send-off f we hate to bury him 
as a dog." Poor, sinful man! The minister may 
shroud him in Christianity's ritualistic robe, but he 
cannot clothe the sin-stained spirit with that gar- 
ment made white only in " the blood of the Lamb." 

Inconsistent, tmgrateful reader, you spend your 
life in the service of an enemy to Jesus, then ask 
him to help you in the dying hour. You want a 
sinful life, but a religious death; and when your 
poor, dead body can no longer be the medium of 
evil, you want the minister of Jesus, in form, to 
coronate your soul w^ith the pure in celestial climes. 

Long years ago we read the Life of the great Ara- 
bian prophet, Mohammed. We remember that the 
author treated the prophet of Mecca as truly a great 
man, in evidence of which he referred to his power 
over the vast tribes of Arabian Desert wanderers; 
how he chained them, in innumerable crowds, sit- 
ting on the desert-sands for hours, listening to his 
forcible logic on the thesis of the being and the 
unity of God. He planted that faith deep in their 
rude natures, and led them, with the bloody sword, 
in its defense and propagation. When silent mul- 
titudes sat in deep meditation on the wonders of 



372 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

theism, he pointed them to the floating clouds under 
the great firmament, the storm-winds sweeping over 
the arid deserts, the lightning's fiery flash along the 
face of the skies, the thunder's deafening roar in its 
cloudy empire, and the great earth, w^ith its mighty 
oceans, hung out in open space, as being the w^ork 
of the God he preached to them, the All-powerful 
One who had called him to be his prophet. 

Transcribing the simple story of our heroic 
preacher, standing at the head of the gambler's 
grave, telling that melancholy group of gamblers 
the doctrines of One greater than Mohammed, while 
night's dark mantle shrouded the earth and envel- 
oped the tomb, we thought of his strange power 
over men — wicked, desperate, daring men — men of 
many languages, and of life-long evil habits, wdio 
would attend his ministry, and keep good order 
while he talked of sin and its final results, and told 
them of Him who was slain as their ransom from 
sin and its fearful issues; and wdien in solemn train 
they bear one of their number to his mausoleum, 
they want him to spread out a Christian mantle 
over the place of his dark repose. Strange power! 
wonderful man! In putrefaction, there the salt is 
needed most. 

Many a lorn mother knoweth not where sleepeth 
the dust of her roving son — whether in the deep, or 
on the shore; w^hether on the mountain, or in the 
vale; whether with the dead, in battle slain, or in 
the desert-solitude; wdiether beside the pious saint, 
w^here celestial angels keep their vigils over the 
quiet dust, or with the fallen wicked, where ghastly 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 373 

demons hold domain. Earth's cold bosom is one 
vast charnel-house, and its surface-sands are mixed 
with the dust of dead life. Friends and enemies, 
acquaintances and strangers, the rich, the poor, the 
evil and the good, all return to our common mother. 

It is a sad thought to be entombed under-ground, 
covered up deep in the cold earth. The thought 
produces a smothering sensation in the living mor- 
tal. But to be buried with a band of wicked stran- 
gers, where no tie but a common dust binds in 
sympathy the unconscious dead, is sad indeed; but 
ah ! to be laid away in the dark vault dug in the 
ground, while the earth is all draped in night — em- 
blem of despair — is more than sad. 

The death and burial of Moses is full of the poe- 
try of grief, the weeping sublime, though God and 
angels were there. 

The bright, shining lights of religious ceremo- 
nials spread over the graves of the sinful do not 
dispel the night of eternal despair which hovers 
there. Life-throbbing hearts grow faint at the view 
of a lone grave, or one thronged by those that fall 
in sin, and sleep without hope. O let me not go 
where the godless dwell in haunts of vice, nor give 
me a place of rest among their dead! Bury me not 
in the wide, deep seas, nor shroud me in the tall, 
tangled weeds which in submarine forests grow, 
where the huge, unseen monsters of ocean roam; 
nor hide me in the shallow sand-bars, wdiere the 
wild, dashing storm-waves may sweep over my cold 
head; nor cover me with the white shells on the 
lonely shore, where foot of man never treads, where 



374: Andrew Jackson Potter. 

naught but the untamed sea-bird and the foam of 
the mad wave may visit my grave. No, no! not on 
the distant mountain, piled into the skies, let me 
sleep, w^here tempest-driven clouds may mantle my 
grave, and the angry lightning's fiery fist may smite 
the face of my tomb; nor under the lone oak, in the 
prairie wilderness, make me a grave, where the 
timid wild deer may nip the green grass around 
the verge of ray solitary home, where silent soli- 
tude reigns alone — silence so intense that the living 
can hear its oppressed breathings. Not there, not 
there, let me sleep alone; nor yet in the gloomy 
vale put me to rest, where night's deepest gloom 
robes the earth, and winter's bleak winds may sigh 
around my bed. But near the home of my child- 
hood, beside those I love, let me repose, until the 
heavens be no more. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 375 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

In order to give the reader an accurate idea of Mr. 
Potter's grade of ministerial talent and pulpit style, 
we copy a sermon from his own manuscript. While 
giving it a careful reading, remember that it is the 
production of a man who really learned to read and 
write his mother-tongue after marriage, and, we be- 
lieve, after he joined the Church; and ponder in 
your mind the power of religion to elevate men, and 
the fertile adaptability of Mr. Potter's Church to 
develop character. Some of her ablest pulpit men 
were taken from humble spheres in life, and some 
from the lower haunts of vice. Mr. Potter's writ- 
ten sermon does not inherit much of his pulpit pe- 
culiarities, which render him at once unique, inter- 
esting, attractive, and successful almost everywhere. 
Potter's thoughts, in their self-mode of syntactical 
construction, are seen in the written sermon, but 
heart and visible manner are mostly absent. The 
living fire is not so sensibly felt burning the heart of 
the reader as the hearer listening to the same truths 
uttered by a tongue enlivened by a heart thrilling 
under the enkindling of celestial tires. Those heart- 
iires have touched the dry stubble of all this fron- 
tier mountain-world, leaving a clean surface for the 
uprising and rapid growth of a new crop of better 
things. Following is the sermon: 



376 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

A PLEA FOR THE BIBLE. 

"Thy word is truth." John xvii. 17. 

Among the distinguishing features of the present 
age, which shall mark its history with imperishable 
glory, is the struggle at this moment pending, with 
no dubious prospects, between moral light and dark- 
ness. An immense mass of talent, of learning, and 
ot hallowed benevolence, is on the march of con- 
quest. The grand national institution, the Amer- 
ican Bible Society, now hoary with the ceaseless 
work of an age against vice and the moral igno- 
rance of the world, has expanded its field of opera- 
tions with a degree of rapidity unknown to former 
generations. Moral enterprise has attained in our 
country a magnitude and a boldness which cannot 
be viewed by any inquiring and observing mind 
without the deepest interest. Nor can it be denied 
that the spring which has given this new impulse 
to the human heart is the Christian faith. The glo- 
rious gospel of the blessed God claims the exclusive 
honor of all the highest virtues and the purest hap- 
piness which have sprung up along the path of the 
benevolent works of the more modern ages. The 
history of the world affords no other instance of sim- 
ilar exertions to diffuse the influence of any other 
religion. That of the Arabian impostor was indeed 
widely spread, but with a zeal as fierce as its preten- 
sions were groundless. Like a stream of melted 
lava, it marked its course with desolation. Its bale- 
ful influence on the highest interest of man, morally 
and politically, needs no other witness than the Mo- 
hammedan empire in Turkey, as it now exists. The 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 377 

religion of Jesus Christ bears no sword but the sword 
of the Spirit, the word of God; it carries no torch 
but the light of truth ; its conquests correspond with 
its pretensions; its "fruits are love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith." The ef- 
forts now in progress to ameliorate the character 
and the condition of our race are of the hio-hest 
authorit}'. They are in strict accordance with the 
apostolic precepts and examples. They are humble 
imitations of Him who, in the midst of all the dis- 
couragements that human depravity could oppose to 
his labors, went about doing good. It might be ex- 
pected that in a system of benevolent operations 
grounded on the conviction of the divine authority 
and inspiration of the sacred volume, one distin- 
guishing branch would be the circulation of the Bi- 
ble itself; and it is so. Christians have derived from 
it a maxim, felt to be true by every regenerated hu- 
man heart, that " Faith cometh by hearing, and hear- 
ing by the word of God;" and all experience proves 
that wherever men bid the heavenly messenger wel- 
come, and give ear to its sacred announcements, 
there a great and effectual door is opened for the 
introduction of all that is ennobling to man. 

It may be that the reader's mind may have re- 
mained until this hour void of any heart-felt interest 
in that book. Your neglect of it may be some se- 
cret sentiment which sinks its value in your eyes; 
yet you may possess candor and penetration. Per- 
mit me, therefore, to entreat your attention to a 
brief consideration of the claims of that volume. 
"We propose, first, that it is an original production. 



378 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

The antiquity of the Old Testament reaches upward 
to an age that yields no other authentic record of 
man's existence. Its language and all its allusions 
and references to the ancient world attest its origin 
to be as remote as the date which it bears; and it 
comes to us w^ith this singular attestation of its gen- 
uineness, as w^ell as of its great antiquity, that the 
very nation in whose language it was written still 
exists, and still cultivates and keeps up a knowledge 
of that same language. Can this be said of any 
other volume of great antiquity? On this ground, 
then, it argues a powerful claim, even upon the cu- 
riosity of every intelligent mind. 

Secondly, the scope of the Bible is vast and un- 
paralleled. It commences with the dawn of time 
and the birth of nature, and closes with the expira- 
tion of both. It colors all its representations with 
the light of eternity. Here we are invited to study 
a chart which marks out the whole plan of divine 
arrangement for our world. Precepts are given to 
regulate human action ; promises, to invite obedi- 
ence; terrors, to prevent transgression ; and exam- 
ples, to confirm all. It is true that these oracles are 
a dark and bewildering labyrinth to the eye that 
casts but hasty glances over their pages; and so are 
the starry heavens, where, nevertheless, to the eye 
of the astronomer, there shines a universe of won- 
ders, holding their stations and tracing their silent 
courses with a harmony as marvelous as their great 
immensity. In like manner the word of God re- 
veals its glories only to the ardent eye of faith, ^or 
do we exaggerate its richness or its depth in affirm- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 879 

ing its supreme efficiency as an instructor. It re- 
wards the studious and upright mind with valuable 
knowledge more rapidly and richly than any other 
department of hnman research. 

Thirdly, the Bible stands unrivaled as a work of 
tastes. In a work comprising so many detached and 
distinct compositions, written in far-distant ages, it 
were natural to expect variety; and, perhaps, the 
greater part of acute readers might look for some 
things below the level of a refined criticism. But 
this volume abides the most vigorous scrutiny, and 
stands unshaken amid the fiercest attacks of hostile 
genius and learning. A taste enlightened to dis- 
cover its legitimate objects, able to divest itself of 
prejudice, and refined without perversion to fastid- 
iousness, will find in this book its highest gratifica- 
tion. If genuine poetry has power to attract, and 
fix, and captivate the soul, we surely have it here. 
The fourteenth chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, Psalms 
xviii., Ixviii., cxviii., and likewise the prophecies of 
Nahum, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, may be 
given as vivid examples. If the sublime in descrip- 
tion yields the highest of intellectual pleasures, it is 
found in the same sacred volume. On the first page 
we read, " God said, Let there be light, and there was 
light." i^ear its close it is said, "I saw a great 
white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose 
face the heavens and the earth fied away." As a few 
other instances, amidst a multitude of others I might 
mention, I point you to the fortieth chapter of Isaiah 
and the first chapter of the marvelous Apocaljq^se: 
of the moral and sublime we have examples here that 



380 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

utterly defy description — Joseph, Daniel, and the 
great lawgiver of Israel; the chief apostle, who, with 
every endowment desirable to man, gloried only in 
the cross — these and many others nobly suited to 
awaken emulation, as their moral dignit}^ is worthy 
to raise our astonishment. In this connection we 
but name the "Author and Finisher of our faith." 
The discerning student of history observes numerous 
traits of excellence in that of the Bible. Moses, and 
Luke, and the penman of the Book of Joshua, per- 
haps, afford the fairest models ; and no other narra- 
tives communicate truth with such simplicity and 
power as the Sacred Scriptures. Eloquence being 
the lano:uao:e of nature addressed to the heart, and 
adapted to the circumstances of man, history with- 
out it would lose half its charms. Passing, then, 
the flights of David and of Isaiah, let the man of 
genuine feeling and real candor compare the plea 
of Judah before Joseph, his brother, with the best- 
wrought specimens of classic antiquity, and he 
will pronounce the dj^ing complaint of Dido, and 
the lamentations of Pantheia, cool and harsh in the 
comparison; or draw the parallel between masters 
of eloquence, and the result is the same — the Bible 
looms above all. While Cicero trembles before the 
armed enemies of Milo, and loses the cause of his 
client; while Demosthenes flies before the invader 
of Greece, Paul, arraigned and fettered as an out- 
law at the feet of a wicked judge, shakes that judge 
on his throne, and almost persuades the proud, li- 
centious Agrippa to be a Christian. Much more 
might be added on this topic, but we desist. It may 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 381 

be thought thit^t we owe an apology to the Church 
of God for bringing the oracles of heaven at all to 
the bar of human taste. Our design is to neutral- 
ize a portion of the venom which ignorance and 
infidel prejudice have cast into the sources of hu- 
man conviction. Beyond this limit we dare not go. 

The excellency of the Holy Scriptures cannot be 
fully appreciated by the rules of human criticism. 
As well might we think of judging of the propor- 
tions of the celestial arch, or the location of the 
stars in the vast expanse, by the rules of architect- 
ure. The word of God, like his works, is on a plan 
too vast, too sublime, too profound, to be measured 
by the feeble intellect of man. 

Fourthly, the sacred volume approaches the con- 
science with a dilemma of unspeakable interest on 
its very front. The book before the reader must be 
true or false. If true, it is what it claims to be — an 
inspired revelation from the God of the universe; 
and if so, its information and its dictates are of in- 
finite importance to the whole world of mankind. 
It puts each individual upon his trial for eternity 
by a divinely-prescribed mode of faith and conse- 
quent course of action. But if not true, it leaves 
man in a darkness more dismal than the grave. His 
origin and his final destination are alike involved 
in a cloud which man without the Bible has never 
been able to dissipate. For peace amidst the evils 
of this state he is driven to his own resources; for 
hope he has no rational foundation left him; on 
moral questions no appeal can be reasonably made 
to the higher principles of human action, for no 



382 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

tribunal is found to distribute accurate and adequate 
rewards and punishments, no judge is known who 
has power to carry retributions beyond the sphere 
of this life. With this question before him in an 
unsettled state, and with the strongest probabilities 
against him, can any man safely neglect to search 
the Holy Scriptures? Is it safe, is it agreeable to 
the common sense of mankind in earthly matters 
to treat a question of such fearful import with in- 
difference? At the best, such a procedure is more 
unwise than the blind homage rendered by the hea- 
then to the superstitions of their fathers. 

Fifthly, the authenticity of the Bible is unques- 
tionable at the bar of sound reason. Our limits 
confine us to a space unworthy of the argument. 
But our design being simply and affectionately to 
invite attention to the highest of all interests, we 
remark that the Christian religion, as contained in 
the ^ew Testament and sanctioned by the Old, is 
strikingly fitted to the state of mankind. There is 
a feeling of guilt connatural to man. It has orig- 
inated more than half of the idolatrous rites and 
customs of the heathen world. For this the gospel 
offers in the atonement of Jesus Christ an ample 
remedy — a balm which leaves no w^ound unhealed, 
no terror unsubdued. There is also a depravity in 
human nature which has ever defied all human re- 
straints. Like a restless torrent that rushes over 
all the barriers thrown across its course, it has never 
been checked. Man's nativ^e depravity has de- 
scended from age to age, mocking every effort he 
has ever devised to arrest its progress. But for this 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 383 

vast evil the Bible offers a sure remedy in the hal- 
lowed effusions of the Holy Spirit; and if our world 
exhibits a scene of misery which has widened and 
darkened with the progress of its population, the 
religion of Christ furnishes a principle that dwells 
in the heart, and from thence puts forth an influ- 
ence which deprives Misery of its keen edge, and 
Death himself of his poisoned sting. In addition 
to these peculiar virtues, the gospel possesses the 
unrivaled advantage of a perfect adaptation to all 
the gradations of human society. Far from dis- 
turbing the order of social life in any essential point, 
it defines the duties of each relation, commands de- 
nial of every disorganizing passion, and diffuses 
through the whole mass of human feeling a prevail- 
ing humanity. The external evidences of the truth 
of the Sacred Scriptures are as complete as the nat- 
ure of the case requires. The miracles of Moses 
and of Christ were designed as credentials of a di- 
vine mission. For this end their fitness is seen in 
their admirable accordance with the character of 
God, merciful and just; as also in their immediate 
tendencies toward the -benefit of man. This last 
quality marks every miracle recorded of the Son of 
God. All were directed either to the spiritual ad- 
vantage, the mental comfort, or the bodily relief, of 
human beings. 'Not one is beneath the sacred char- 
acter ever sustained by their divine Author. Those 
miracles were recorded by eye-witnesses, whose tes- 
timony has been preserved and corroborated by an 
unbroken chain of other competent evidence to the 
present hour. Prophecy is a species of proof which 



384 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

grows stronger with the lapse of ages. It chal- 
lenges investigation. It presents its records to 
mankind along with the pages of history, upbraids 
their thoughtlessness and condemns their unbelief, 
while it fain would win them to conviction of its 
claims to truth. 

The Christian Church could not so long have ex- 
isted on a foundation of fable and fiction. Baptism 
and "the Supper of the Lord" both testify the ver- 
ity of the gospel history as clearly as the London 
Monument points to the calamity it was erected to 
commemorate; and all the Jewish people are dis- 
tinguished from all other nations by the very pecul- 
iarities described and predicted in both Testaments. 
They are found in the four quarters of the globe, 
yet have no political power in any one region. They 
bear with them through all dispersions the very 
Scriptures which condemn their unbelief, and the 
prejudices which hold them in spiritual blindness. 
A process of extermination the most terrible ever 
tried on any nation has been tried on them by the 
most potent empires of the world, and still they live 
and increase, and they still are Jews in spite of all 
efforts which have been employed to amalgamate 
them with other nations. 

View the aspect of society wherever you may, 
where the religion of Jesus Christ prevails in its 
simplicity and power, in proportion to its preva- 
lence you will find whatsoever things are true, and 
honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good 
report, to prevail; and in the same ratio those vices 
which arise from corrupt appetites and passions. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 385 

which lead with fatal certainty to misery and deg- 
radation, are unknown; there the virtues, the arts, 
and the sciences, which bless and adorn life, spring 
up and flourish. Man without ambition attains the 
maximum of earthly happiness, while every bless- 
ing is heightened and every sorrow is mitigated by 
the cheering prospect of eternity. 

England's Christian Queen has said that the Bible 
is the secret of her kingdom's greatness. Bible 
Christianity has given the world its schools, col- 
leges, and universities. Most of the great authors 
during eighteen centuries have reverenced the Bible. 
The libraries of the civilized world are burdened 
with the learned and useful works of Christian men. 
Only a few men of high talent have rejected the 
Bible. Their works fill but a small place in the 
world's book-case; their unread volumes lie in 
earth's great museums as the bones of the dead in 
the unvisited catacombs; while the vast catalogue 
of learned and able defenders of the Bible enumer- 
ate into the thousands. A long line of poets, phi- 
losophers, historians, linguists, statesmen, scientists, 
and other distinguished men, have left to us their 
exalted estimates of the imperishable value of the 
Bible. 

There is a fact which involves both the truth and 
divinity of the Bible — a fact which is the more im- 
portant as it combines all the external with the ex- 
perimental evidence. ^N'o instance can be given 
where a real behever in Jesus Christ denied the faith 
in his last hours. At a period of our existence so 
solemn, so honest, and so awful, when the soul is 



386 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

very often found in all the vigor and clearness of 
self-possession, then, if ever, man display's the in- 
terior of his character. While there the ungodly 
have, in thousands of instances, honestly bewailed 
with their dying breath a life spent without having 
secured a saving interest in the Redeemer. Why 
must the Christian alone be suspected of insincerity 
when with his last breathings he triumphs in his 
Saviour's glorious grace? These facts, we boldly 
affirm, would be not only unaccountable, but impos- 
sible, if truth did not form the basis of the Chris- 
tian's hopes. This argument acquires additional 
strength from those examples of sorrow and regret 
where dying Christian's deplore their unfaithful- 
ness. They never bewail their past attachment to 
the faith, nor their firm obedience to the precepts 
of the gospel; nor do they exhibit fears that the 
realities of eternity shall detect falsehood at the 
foundation of their faith. They sorrow only for 
failures which have shortened their attainments in 
the divine life. If any fears disturb the peace of 
their last moments, they arise from thoughts of per- 
sonal unfaithfulness. 

But a book professedly delivered to man for the 
high purpose of regenerating his nature must pos- 
sess some peculiar energy equal to the greatness of 
the, design. This property must be something dis- 
tinct from those qualities which meet the admira- 
tion of the scholar or the natural sympathies of the 
heart. It is certain that neither the venerable ori- 
gin of the Bible, nor its boundless scope, nor its 
transcendent beauties, nor its overpowering evi- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 387 

dence, nor all these combined, are alone sufficient 
to work a permanent change in the moral nature or 
structure of the heart, ^o pleasures of tastes, no 
amusements drawn from speculation, can in a spir- 
itual sense enlighten the eyes or rejoice the heart, 
much less convert the soul. If such only were the 
sources of spiritual illumination, faith, and holiness, 
then indeed might the triumphs of grace be few, 
and the believer might weep over a world of unlet- 
tered and uncultivated souls placed under the ban 
of a hopeless rejection. But God has "magnified 
his word above all his name." His own image and 
superscription are impressed on the sacred page in 
characters of moral energy which nothing but ex- 
perience can interpret or discern; and when seen, it 
penetrates and settles into a firm conviction of di- 
vine truth, which no attacks of sophistry, however 
plausible, no temptation, however strong, can over- 
turn. With such evidences to the learned and the 
unlearned, the wise and the simple, the great change 
to a true faith and a new life is the usual result — 
great, truly, in many respects, but mostly in the 
manifest presence of divine power in its accomplish- 
ment. Men who had become bitter in their enmity 
to the whole subject of religion have sometimes been 
prevailed on to peruse the word they utterly disbe- 
lieved, and the experiment has been followed by a 
soul-transforming faith; a heart hard and sensual 
has been softened and refined; an imagination un- 
bridled and gross has been purified ; a will altogether 
enlisted on the side of sin has been renewed, and 
the creature in an important sense has been "de- 



388 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

livered from the bondage of corruption into the glo- 
rious liberty of the children of God." 

Such, dear friends, are the reasons, by the state- 
ment of which we hope to secure your attention to 
the holy book of God. Let it not offend that we 
have proceeded thus far upon the supposition that 
you have hitherto failed to give that book a close 
perusal. Please turn again to the fourth topic of 
this subject, and reconsider what is there said. If 
you have neglected the sacred volume, weigh that 
aro^ument, and acknowledo^e the nes^lect as an infin- 
ite risk sustained for no possible good; then sit 
down to the work with a lirm resolution to know 
by actual experience its whole amount of truth, of 
beaut}^, and its transforming power. Minds endued 
with penetration equal to yours, hearts of equal can- 
dor, have wandered as long as you have traveled in 
paths of trackless uncertainty, and have been per- 
suaded to seek, and have at last found, the path of 
peace. 

We shall now try the weight of a few of the prin- 
cipal objections which have been urged against the 
Holy Scriptures. One thing which may take on 
some force with some minds is the supposition that 
the whole matter of revelation is an unsettled point, 
and that as long as it is so every one is at liberty to 
await the issue. We answer that the truth of the 
Bible has long since been settled, and every objec- 
tion deserving refutation has been refuted. The con- 
fident air with which groundless cavils have been 
reiterated proves nothing but the ignorance and the 
malevolence which gave them birth, and which still 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 389 

labor to revive them. But, admitting the case un- 
decided in the minds of nine-tenths of the human 
race, even that, were it real, would involve a proba- 
bility of the strongest kind in favor of a system 
which was able to hoUl so high a ground after eight- 
een hundred years of unremitted conflict with all 
that is corrupt in human nature; and such a proba- 
bility would render wholly inexcusable the levity, 
the indifference, or the worldliness, which prevents 
inquiry into the subject. As, however, the state of 
the evidence really is, no language can utter the 
folly of that fatal presumption which can venture 
the hazard of the issues of eternity upon a ground 
so frail. 

Were Bible truths only matters of opinion, or 
objects of vague speculation, then with some show of 
propriety they might be left to those who might be 
moved by taste or curiosity to examine them; but 
they hold at stake the w^hole existence of man — not 
of one, but of all; nor yet all collectively, but each 
severally; and "how shall we escape if we neglect 
so great salvation?" 

It is urged that the Bible has been opposed from 
the flrst by men of great talents, while its advocates 
have generally been in the humbler and plainer 
classes. Both parts of the statement might be true 
without affecting the slightest breach in our faith. 
If genius has assailed our religion, it cannot be de- 
nied that genius has also defended it, and that tri- 
umphantly. If Porphyry, Celsus, and Julian, at- 
tacked the cause of truth, did not Justin, Origen, 
and others, maintain their ground? If armies of 



390 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Tnodeni infidels have been headed by chiefs of pre- 
eminent talent, bad indeed must be the cause which 
is falling into ruin in their hands. If no Newton, 
Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Johnson, Watson, Butler, 
Scott, nor Chalmers, had ever appeared to breast 
the fury of the foe, the Bible, we doubt not, would 
have remained unsubdued and uninjured on the 
field. Compare the loose and profligate lives of 
Voltaire and his satellites, Paine, and the libertinism 
of Hume, with the morality of their opponents; 
extend the antithesis through all the ranks of the 
opposing forces, and how then will the controversy 
stand? Just where it has stood for more than a 
thousand years, with this exception, that the attacks 
of infidelity appear more and more in their real 
character. They are truly the rage of impotence 
against omnipotence, a struggling of depravity and 
vice to assume dominion over the universe. 

The Bible is often reproached by its enemies as 
being a contrivance of an artful priesthood to serve 
their own interest at the expense of the rest of man- 
kind. That reproach is as absurd as it is malignant. 
It supposes a conspiracy to have been carried on for 
three thousand and five hundred years. It imputes 
at the same time to these conspirators the greatest 
acuteness and the utmost stupidity. To frame such 
a scheme they must have infinitely surpassed all the 
world in talent, yet so blind to their darling object 
as to sentence themselves without reprieve to a life 
of hardships, opposition, and toil; for such is the 
general lot of the Christian ministry on the earth. 

Again, it is given as a suspicious mark that the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 391 

doctrines of the Scriptures are so perpetually iu the 
field of public controversy. We admit the fact, but 
we deny the conclusion. The matters in controver- 
sy among real Christians afiect not the vital truths 
of the gospel. Divisions of this nature only prove 
that human judgments are fallible; that believers 
are not perfectly conformed to the spirit of their 
calling, and that the truth as they view it in the 
mirror of revelation — ^as being of divine origin — is 
the foundation of their faith, and the object of their 
fondest hopes. Meanwhile, the spirit of controver- 
sy contracts its sphere just in proportion as Chris- 
tians advance in vital godliness. As their hearts 
approach Him who is the source of all illumination, 
they draw nearer to each other. Let the objector 
collect the sentiments and creeds of all the contend- 
ing parties in the real Church of Christ, and com- 
pare them with the Holy Scriptures. He will find 
amidst all their diversities of opinions but one mind 
in regard to the grounds of the great Christian 
scheme. In their views of the corrupt and perish- 
ing state of man, the way of access to God by a 
Divine Mediator, the exclusive eflicacy of his obedi- 
ence unto death as the foundation of the sinner's 
pardon and acceptance, and the regeneration of the 
believer by the Holy Spirit — on these and many other 
cardinal points all true Christians are " of one heart 
and of one soul." 

My brethren, preach the word. In it is your glo- 
rious commission to seek and to save the lost. Be 
filled, be fired with the enkindlings of the spirit of 
that great commission. May you, may the Church, 



392 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

may all of us who feel the force of that divine word, 
be more and more filled with the glorious object of 
the recovery of immortal spirits to the lost image 
of God, and guide the perishing to an almighty 
Saviour! May the Spirit be poured out from on 
high until the Avhole Church shall see and feel that 
these facts are now of chief importance! Man is 
lost, and the Son of God is seeking him to save him 
from his sins. He is lost, and the Church is com- 
missioned to go forth in the might of faith and 
prayer to invite him to salvation. We often talk of 
it as children talk of the affairs of empires. We see 
through a glass darkly. Our conceptions are low 
and limited. "To save the lost!" tell, ye ruined 
spirits, what it means! tell us, Son of God, what it 
means! What stirred thy soul in godlike compas- 
sion to seek the lost? Tell us, ye ransomed and ye 
faithful spirits who never have sinned, tell us ! O 
Father, tell the Church! tell thy ministers until ev- 
ery slumberer awakes, and every energy be aroused, 
and the way of life be pointed out to a perishing 
world ! The Bible, God's book divine, points out 
that way. As some broad, fortress-guarded chan- 
nel, it leads safely into the haven of eternal repose. 
As the grand old rock fortress of Gibraltar, where 
for twelve hundred years its cannon-crowned brow 
has been the object of international envy, around it, 
from the days of the Saracens, the thunders of bat- 
tle have roared. Africans, Arabs, Castilians, Moors, 
and Englishmen, have been its masters. But around 
the Bible, the citadel of Christian faith, the noise 
of conflict has rung more loudly and for a longer 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 393 

period. Yet it stands to-day in the possession of its 
Christian defenses. Infested by foes wearing the 
nniform of hate and badge of opposition, the Bible 
has held its own garrison, unharmed, in the citadels 
of the reason and the hopes of mankind, and as 
some tall cliff* its radiant head is elevated to-day 
above the region of clouds and shadows. Eternal 
sunshine is on its brow. Imperishable book! The 
Bible! It has stood too as impregnable amidst the 
hostilities and surrounding disasters as the fabled 
pillars of Seth. Crucial tests have not impaired a 
chapter or invalidated a verse. The tears of silver- 
haired patriarchs continue to bedew its pages. The 
widow amid her poverty still reads its precious 
promises to her fatherless children. The troubled 
heart and sorrow-bowed head finds its divine cov- 
enants softer than the pillows of down on which 
w^earied. kings have rested their aching foreheads. 
The sick yet touch their spirit-lips to the crystal 
"waters of its river of life." Its pledges of a com- 
ing resurrection keep the graves of loved ones green, 
and have made the cemetery magnetic to surviving 
friends. The dying turn their closing eyes to it as 
their only lamp "through the valley of the shadow 
of death," and clasp it as their last treasure, while 
their fingers stiff'en in the last ordeal. Old Sun, 
twin-brother of Time, thou wilt cease to shine as 
god of the day. Thou Moon, thy form will disap- 
pear from the night-draped sky. Lamps of ether, 
ye will drop into the emptiness of destined dark- 
ness. Old Bible, thou wilt survive infidelity, out- 
live criticism, and stand as an imperishable ram- 



394 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

part — immortal, indestructible! The mission of in- 
fidelity is to undermine the most valuable hopes of 
man. Its ambition is to force him out into the mor- 
al wilderness of dreary speculation and dark uncer- 
tainty. Its highest achievement is to drug his sense 
of responsibility to God, and blind his vision as to 
eternal things, and invest his mind with wretched- 
ness in this life. The Bible is his only star of hope 
in death's dark night. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 395 



CHAPTER XLVIIL 

There is a county newspaper styled The Quill, pub- 
lished in Castroville, Texas, by a noted, witty editor, 
who is a special friend to Mr. Potter. There ap- 
pearing several communications of an outright in- 
fidel type, Mr. Potter undertook to refute them. 
Quite a number of barefaced infidel correspondents 
appeared in The Quill, attacking Mr. Potter's de- 
fense of Christianity. We herewith copy one arti- 
cle, written over the nom de plume of "Bruno," and 
then give Mr. Potter's reply, to give the reader an 
idea of his polemic tact. We copy infidel " Bru- 
no's" article first, and then give Mr. Potter's reply. 
It is headed, 

PAESON POTTEK PUNCTUEED. 

Parson Potter in his last letter to E. P. says, " We are on the de- 
fensive." Is that so ? Did not Elder Cox, on April 1, write to your 
paper the article headed "Christ vs. Ingersoll?" Was not this the 
first letter that appeared in your paper? He opened this real con- 
troversy, and we infidels are on the defensive. We stood the abuses 
of Solon, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and others. After that we 
had to be called fools by David, and dare not wince when your cor- 
respondents tell us that our love of sin, our love of self, makes us 
what we are — i. e., infidels. We dare not acknowledge God for fear 
of punishment — i. e., hell-fire and brimstone. 

We never took up for the old heathen philosophers, but ask. What 
is good in old David? Did not that man after God's own heart as- 
sassinate husbands to get their wives? Eead his highway robberies 
in Gath — his mutilation of the dead bodies to make a disgusting 



396 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

necklace for his first wife. Plenty of atrocities, brutalities, and 
cruelties we can produce; and if such a "saint" calls us fools, we 
think it is a proud honor, and not a disgrace. We know it is a cus- 
tom of the parsons to digress at once from the logic of the infidels 
to their private character, and point, as Dr. Thornberry did, as the 
legitimate fruit of skeptical teaching. 

Another brother of Parson Potter's undertakes to correct his last 
letter when he tells him, "Union is strength, and a house divided 
against itself cannot stand." How nice and smooth could all the 
sects dwell together if they chose to do so ! Are all the Christian 
sects such a brotherhood as the parson paints them? He admits we 
differ, but our aim and intent is to reach precisely the same results ; 
in short, all the Christian denominations are one harmonious unit. 

If the picture drawn by our worthy parson would be so in real- 
ity, our Christian part of the globe would indeed be a garden of 
Eden. But lo ! that unrelenting witness. History, steps in, and with 
facts, figures, and dates, proves the parson's idea to be fallacious. 
This unimpeachable witness proves that every sectarian is an intol- 
erant partisan in religion. No wonder that we read in Luke, " If 
any man comes to me, and hates not his father and mother," etc., etc. 
Hence, the Jews were hated by the Christians, the pagans were 
hated by the Christians, the Greek Catholics hate the Eoman Catho- 
lics, and both hate the Protestants, and the Protestants hate both of 
them ; and the Episcopalians hate the Presbyterians, and the Meth- 
odists hate the Baptists, and Campbellites are hated by all the oth- 
ers, and they — the Campbellites — reciprocate the aflTections of all 
the others. A very harmonious unit. 

Further it is proved, beyond a possibility of a dou^at, by the facts 
of history, that whenever any faction of faith, by hook or crook, 
became possessed of the temporal power, it invariably used the 
State's strong arm — its dungeons, and racks, and fires — to put down 
rival denominations. There is not a solitary exception. Hence, I 
say, how is it possible that a faith that teaches and practices such 
peculiar doctrines, such hate and intolerance, can be worth one grain 
of sand to the human family? We still take history as the witness, 
and prove that religious fanaticism is so blind that it will wrangle, 
fight, kill, exterminate, put to the sword men, women, and chil- 
dren, and quote text after text to justify their atrocities. What 
Moses and Joshua did we all know (we infidels get the Bible by 
heart) ; but look at the thirty years' war, the Inquisition, the Crom- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 397 

well butcheries in Ireland, the Puritan outrages in this country, etc. 
A fine set of sectarians they were I To the last they demand of us 
infidels, upon pain of eternal damnation, that we believe that such 
a religion is the corner-stone of civilization, and its fabled creator 
the prince of peace. 

O faith! fanatic faith I once wedded fast 
To some dear falsehood, hugs to the last. 

Bruno. 

Medina County, Sept. 15, 1880. 

Such was the mess of slander Mr. "Bruno" puh- 
lished to the world as the legitimate fruits of a pure 
Christianity, and styles the immaculate Son of God 
a fabled character. To this tissue of false logic and 
sophistry Mr. Potter replies. The intidel editor 
heads his article as follows: 

PARSON POTTER'S POLEMIC. 
An Avalanche of Scripture from the Fighting Parson — Defense of Chris- 
tians — A Scathing Reply to ^^ Bruno " — The Parson pulls off his gloves 
and goes for the Unrighteous — Madame Roland and Liberty talked 
about — Sound Advice to Doubters. 

Editor Quill: — A writer over the signature of "Bruno" en- 
lightens the readers of The Quill, in a late number, on the subject 
of Christianity. This writer is quite pretentious; knows, he says, 
the Bible by heart; and quotes, or rather misquotes. History too, as 
though he claimed to know it all by heart. How aptly he illus- 
trates in himself the character described by the Apostle Paul in 
Romans, where he says that in professing wisdom they became 
fools ! 

His denunciations of the Christian system and its followers in all 
ages are general — no exceptions are made. The blessed gospel of 
peace is, in his view, a gospel of pure hate. The teachings which 
declare love to God and our fellow-men, and the Golden Rule of do- 
ing unto others as we would that they should do unto us — these, and 
such as are fundamental in Christianity, make no impression on 
his mind. In speaking of Christians everywhere, he declares that 
persecution is the rule, and tolerance not even an exception — that 
all denominations cordially hate each other. 

To answer such a writer is simply to quote his tirade. Every 



898 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

man of candor or sense will condemn his palpable misrepresenta- 
tions. Such a man as he cannot reason; his mind is all darkness; 
he is a fit representation of his father — the original, Simon-pure 
accuser of the brethren, as seen in Revelation, where it is said that 
the accuser of the brethren is to be cast down. 

That individual Christians are faultless, no one pretends; that 
sects have sometimes been intolerant, no one denies ; that crimes 
have been committed in the sacred name of religion, is admitted ; 
and that David, and Solomon, and others named in the Scriptures, 
committed sins, the Bible itself reveals, and nobody conceals or 
justifies; but let me ask, What cause can guarantee the fidelity and 
purity of every man who espouses it? We all profess to love Lib- 
erty ; it was our boast and our pride ; we claim that we inherited the 
principle of constitutional liberty from our ancestors, and we hope 
to hand it down as a priceless legacy to our children; yet, have all 
the champions of freedom always been angels? Have not crimes 
been committed in the very name of that Constitution crur fathers 
ordained? And is the sacred cause of Liberty to be abandoned be- 
cause in Madame Roland's day, when blatant infidelity ruled the 
hour, she was constrained truthfully to exclaim, "O Liberty! what 
crimes are committed in thy name!" 

Now, Mr, ''Bruno," you are simply doing what many other sin- 
ners like you often do, permit me to say — that is, you simply deceive 
yourself; you know very little of the letter or history of Chris- 
tianity; of its spirit you know nothing, and it is likely you never 
will. Of that immense army of devoted workers in our numerous 
literary and charitable institutions in our land — those monuments 
of Christian zeal and love — of truth, science, and enlightened prog- 
ress — you take no notice; of the many churches in our great coun- 
try; of the vast army of devoted toilers who go everywhere, teach- 
ing all men to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God. 
See in Micah where it is said that that is what God requires of man. 

Of these, and all of these, you know nothing, you see nothing. 
You perhaps see your models oftener in the saloon than in churches, 
and hence your power to criticise Christianity amounts simply to 
"find or forge a fault." 

This is my answer to your tirade. I am not your enemy; I hate 
you not, but sincerely wish you well in this world and in the great 
"beyond." May you early learn that abuse is not argument or 
sense. Believe or disbelieve what you please, but you have no 



Andrew Jackson I^tter. 899 

right to say to the world that Christians are, and always have been, 
bad meh and women; nobody will believe it, nor do yon believe it 
yourself. A. J. Potter. 

Mountain Home, Kendall County, Texas, Oct. 19, 1880. 

Such a vile catalogue of false imputations against 
Christianity is not novel — it is hoary. The faults 
and mistaken zeal of ignorant zealots, and the 
crimes of false friends of religion, have been un- 
justly accredited to the pure doctrines and unsullied 
morals of the gospel of Jesus Christ; but, as the 
undimmed sparkle of the gems in the rough ore, they 
shine for themselves ; they are pure, though all 
men be corrupt; they ar© true, if all men prove to 
be false; they commend themselves to the approv- 
ing judgment and conscience of all minds where 
reason holds the scepter. 



400 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 

Prominent among the leading traits in the social 
character of Mr. Potter is his fondness for a witty 
joke among his brethren, at their great meetings on 
circuits, and districts, and at their annual convoca- 
tions. He is fond of society; loves to talk; all the 
time merry and cheerful ; never gloomy ; not a trace 
of sadness in all his features. Time has not yet 
whitened his ebon locks, or corrugated a single feat- 
ure in the plane of his ruddy, youth-like counte- 
nance. He enjoys a hearty good laugh at a good 
*'take off," and a thrilling quiz. He is good at re- 
joinders and repartee. He has many friends and 
few enemies. Light and cheerful sunshine go where 
he goes, and he is always welcomed; and a shade 
of sadness gathers about the hall when he says 
*' Good-by." At a late district-meeting, an aesthetic 
brother, in reading a report on the spiritual state 
of the Church, made an onslaught on the merry 
element in the Church, and arraigned the cheerful 
preacher for his share in the skinning tirade. Mr. 
Potter took it to himself, and shed tears over it. 
He was ever ready to own a fault when pointed out 
to him, and sometimes inclined to censure himself 
unduly in that line. If he was sometimes led near 
to the end of prudence in jesting, his brethren were 
also to be blamed therefor, as they would lead him 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 401 

into it by getting him to tell the funny events in his 
marvelous history, merely to have some interesting, 
innocent amusement at their infrequent comings- 
together. Dr. Walker, a member of the West Tex- 
as Conference, spent part of his younger life with 
the Cherokee and Choctaw Indian Nations, and is 
a dry humorist, and loves a good joke, and likes to 
see others laugh, though he does not laugh much 
himself. He is a great friend and admirer of Mr. 
Potter, and often spurs at him with his dry, sarcas- 
tic wit at the Annual Conference — the itinerant's 
jubilee — where and when, once in a year, he is al- 
lowed a few cheerful days of friendly greeting and 
merry joke-cracking with his brethren. The Nes- 
tor-doctor kept saying to Mr. Potter, at one annual 
session: "Potter, they say you are gifted in laugh- 
ing. Potter, you must not laugh. Do n't laugh, 
Potter. Come, now, try; be serious; put on digni- 
ty; be grave." Although it was said humorously, 
yet it was half in earnest. Mr. Potter tried to copy 
the staid counsel of his senior brother, but he made 
an awkward effort at "put-on." Unused to affected 
seriousness, his visage partook of the frightful, car- 
icatured, woe-begone. Next morning was one of 
bright, Edenic loveliness, and the brethren were 
meeting and joyously greeting each other, when up 
walked Dr. Walker; and there sat Mr. Potter with 
his long puckered face, the comic almanac picture 
of grief. The Doctor caught sight of him, and 
said, "What is the matter with Potter?" Mr. Pot- 
ter answered, "You said I must not laugh, and I 
am trying to pucker back against it." The veteran 



402 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Doctor saw that he was outwitted, and said, '' Laugh, 
Potter — any thing but that frightful look." It is 
generally understood now that Mr. Potter was not 
born to walk under gloomy clouds, and the liberty 
of sunshine is allotted to him by mutual consent of 
saint and sinner. Weave no shading chaplet about 
the brow where beams of light love to glow. 

Just here we give the reader a transcript of Mr. 
Potter's cheerful, humorous cast of mind. It is 
copied from the Texas Christian Advocate^ giving an 
account of a visit to our great city of the West, 
San Antonio. It is there headed, "Potter's Pere- 
grinations": 

"I have for several years contemplated a visit to 
Galveston, but as I had never been in any thing 
like a large city, I had some misgivings about mak- 
ing the venture. I heard they were having some 
mighty big times in San Antonio, over railroad 
rackets and other new-fangled things, so I thought I 
would go down and take a few lessons in city doings. 
And one morning I hitched up my ponies and lit 
out for the city. I reached my destination at live 
o'clock P.M., and drove to a city hotel. I saw the 
word * office' upon one door. I opened it, and a 
smiling- faced gentleman stepped out, took my bag- 
gage, and said, 'Come in, sir.' This courteous gen- 
tleman stepped around a counter and looked through 
a sort of window, over which was printed in large 
letters, 'Pay as you go.' And lying on a small desk, 
which seemed to turn on wheels, was a large book; 
with a quick motion he turned it, and handed me 
a pen. I stood for a moment, and said, ' Sir, the 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 403 

stage will not go up till to-morrow, and I will not 
write to my wife until morning.' 'Please register,' 
he said. But I told liim I had registered about fif- 
teen times since the war, and that the elections had 
all passed off without my vote being challenged, 
and I could not see any reason why I should regis- 
ter again. He said he only wanted me to write my 
name; so I wrote: 'To all whom it may concern: 
The undersigned is from Boerne, Kendall County, 
Texas. A. J. Potter.' This clever clerk seemed 
now to sympathize with me, and took me unuer his 
special care, and sliowed me everywhere I wanted 
to go. I passed the night quietly, arose early next 
morning, and found it was raining, which was a 
great drawback to my city explorations. Whilst 
sitting in the office waiting for breakfast, a boy 
came in with a bundle of papers under his arm, and 
handed me one, saying, 'Here is your morning Ex- 
press.' I took the paper and began to read, the boy 
still standing there. I said, 'I will hand it back 
to 3^ou in a few minutes, sonny.' He said he sold 
them for five cents, and that he was waiting for the 
money. I told him that I would see the clerk. I 
was boarding at a dollar a day. I wonder if I have 
to pay extra for news? But as the gentleman was 
out at the time, I handed him the money. After 
breakfast I told the clever clerk that I had come to 
see the bigness of the city, and as it was raining I 
would have to get an excursion ticket on a street- 
car. He said I did not need a ticket — that one 
would be along directly, and he would point it out 
to me, and that I could just jump aboard, and it 



404 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

would be all right. So presently he said, ^Here it 
comes!' as he pointed to a great big wagon pulled 
by one little mule. So I boarded the thing, and 
found it pretty well crowded. ' Halloo,' said a well- 
known voice; 'here is old "Winchester" Potter.' 
I seated myself, and one of the passengers said, 
'Mr. Potter, do you think the Jews, as a nation, 
will ever return to the balmy skies of their native 
Judea?' Slam, crash, went the thing off the track. 
Thinking I was gone, I cried out, ' Bill, tell my wife 
and children not to grieve.' I said, 'Halloo, driver, 
do you think there will be an explosion?' 'Explo- 
sion!' said he; 'did you ever know a mule to ex- 
plode?' I soon found that I was more scared than 
hurt. ' Gentlemen,' said the driver, ' if you will all 
throw your dignity on the hind-part of this thing, 
we will soon be on the track again.' About this 
time several men walked up, who, so far as I knew, 
might have been the coroner and jury of inquest; 
but finding no corpse, they went to work, and soon 
we were moving again. The man said again, 'Mr. 
Potter, just as the car ran off I was asking about 
the return of the Jews.' I told him I did not think 
that they would ever get there if they had to go on 
street-cars. About that time a lank, thin-looking 
man, with a fine voice, said, 'Mr. Potter, do you 
think any of the heathen will get to heaven ? ' Slam, 
bang, went the thing off the track again. ' Bill,' 
said I, 'I guess I am gone this time; tell my wife 
she will find my horses and buggy at the Central, 
and bills paid; she will find my watch at Bell & 
Brother's, two dollars and twenty-five cents due. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 405 

Farewell!' I was soon conscious that I had not 
crossed the river Styx, by the vociferous swearing 
of one of the men, who seemed to have all the 
curse-words at his command. I approached the 
profane man, and said, ^ Sir, you seem to be doing 
all the cursing for the crowd, and as I do n't swear 
here is twenty-live cents to pay my part.' He said 
he never charged preachers. I told him he had 
better not exhaust his stock of profanity, but to 
keep some on hand for the next occasion. He said 
he had a sufficient fund on hand to do for two more 
run-ofls. One man swore he would take it on foot, 
and he stepped off with such a large amount of mud 
on his feet that our cursing-man said that 'every 
man in Texas was a land-holder.' So we got on 
the track once more, and got under headway. The 
gentleman said again, 'Mr. Potter, just as the last 
accident occurred, I asked if any of the heathen 
would go to heaven.' I told him I was not in a 
frame of mind to discuss the subject: the Almighty 
had not appointed me judge of the world; that if 
he ever got there he would find some of them there, 
or a good reason why they were not. By this time 
we had reached the main plaza, and the thing ran 
off again. I then made my escape, and reached the 
Central Hotel in time for dinner. So you see my first 
half- day's experience in the great city was full of 
mishaps. 

" I took another voyage in the afternoon, and had 
only one run-off. So I hitched up Friday morning, 
and started for my mountain -home, a wiser if not 
a better man. I am convinced that a o-reat citv is 



406 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

not the place for me. Junction City and Ben Fick- 
lin are large and grand enough for me. On reach- 
ing Boerne, I reported to Dr. Jacob S. West for 
examinati-on, who said that the mule that pulled the 
great wagon was non compos mentis, and that the 
passengers were non comatibus in sioampo et raihvay, 
or words to that effect: whilst my nervous system 
had been somewhat excited, he thought a seasona- 
ble tour, without the mule, city wagon, or the curs- 
ing-man, if made at once, would give me a fair 
chance to recover, and try my luck again. If so, 
you will be fully informed of the fact, by the un- 
lucky writer, A. J. Potter." 

In social life he was ever ready for a good joke 
and pleasant humor, and his manner never gave 
offense, as in the case of the cursing-man. Yet he 
was grave in the pulpit, though eccentric in style. 
In him opposite extremes meet — that of cheerful- 
ness and gravity, not those of sadness and joy. 
Sadness has not yet spread her veil over the even 
features of his placid face. Sorrow has not corru- 
gated a single lineament there, nor Time whitened 
a hair, l^o clouds ever drape his smooth forehead; 
but in him meet the opposites of stern resolve and 
yielding pity. He can chastise the erring to the 
end of desert, and then heal the wounds his inflic- 
tions may have made. He can weep with you to- 
day in the darkness of your sorrows, but in the 
morning, if need be, he can, with as earnest a heart, 
correct you for your palpable wrongs. 

In all departments of l!^ature there are points and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 407 

things at which, and in which, opposites meet and 
touch, and then begin to part, to widen the breach, 
and meet not again. Darkness and light meet in 
the twilights; winter and spring touch on each 
other's borders in the first budding morns; conti- 
nents and liquid oceans have their lines of marginal 
unions; the prismatic colors meet just where one is 
and the other is not — where both are they part; the 
vegetable and the animal kingdoms meet at a given 
line, and then diverge to their opposite extremes, as 
rays of light leaving the central sun widen their 
separation as they penetrate into immensity's great 
profound. In the animal world, especially in man, 
opposite dispositions unite often in one person. Our 
divine Christianity infuses a new leaven into the 
souls of men which can w^eep with the sorrowing, 
and rejoice with the happy. It is glad at human 
joy, and grieved at mortal's woes. 



408 Andrew Jacxson Potter. 



CHAPTER L. 

A LETTER from Mr. Potter from old " Camp San 
Saba," published in the Texas Christian Advocate of 
Jan. 8, 1881, will give the reader some idea of the 
work which has been done by that laborious, adven- 
turing mission-apostle of the Great West. Camp 
San Saba is far out on the old Indian hunting- 
grounds, but now the military and frontier telegraph 
companies have extended their news- conveying 
wires from Austin along the vales and across the 
mountain-heights to that post. But years ago Pot- 
ter and his " Winchester" were there, when Indian- 
bands dashed upon the unguarded wanderer along 
the wide belts stretching between the government 
camps. Here he erected the Church's Ebenezer 
alongside the government standard, though for want 
of a constant jjastor, he tells us, the Church has de- 
clined; but he is there again, raising up its droop- 
ing standard. 

Camp San Saba, Dee. 28, 1880. 
As time rolls swiftly on the citizens of the frontier have discov- 
ered that Christmas comes on the twenty-fifth of December this 
year, and as the discovery is a new one, the majority concluded to 
celebrate the night of the twenty-fourth in a manner suited to the 
time and occasion. At the kind solicitations of the managers, I 
visited Voca, the most attractive and coimnanding point in the 
West, where the citizens had reared a Christmas-tree for tlie ben- 
efit of the children. It was a grand sight, worthy the admiration 
of all. The tree was most artisticallv decorated bv the fiiir hands 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 409 

of the managers, and the numerous presents that were suspendec 
from its boughs were well calculated to gladden the hearts of the 
merry children, and created a thrill of admiration and pleasure in 
the entire audience. It certainly reflected honor on the managers, 
more particularly the originator of the enterprise. Brother Hunter, 
a worthy and consistent member of our Church, and one of the 
greatest Sunday-school workers on the frontier, who had organized a 
Sunday-school at Voca, with a membei'ship of sixty-five in attend- 
ance. He is also engaged at present in teaching a school, and meet- 
ing with merited success, which he richly deserves. Some three 
miles from Voca, on the night of the twenty-third, there was another 
tree-celebration, under the management of Professor Key, which I 
understand was largely attended, and gave general satisfaction. 

I commenced a quarterly-meeting at Camp San Saba on Satur- 
day last, had large and attentive audiences, and much good feeling 
was manifested. We intended to begin the meeting on Friday, but 
owing to previous arrangements of the citizens in celebrating the 
night of the twenty-fourth as did those of Voca, unfortunately we 
could not be present, but understood from experts that, for dec- 
orations and beauties, and the lavish display of costly presents, it 
has rarely, if ever, been excelled in the State. The affair passed 
off pleasantly, and all commended the lady managers in terms of 
praise. The able assistance of Professor Stephens did much in 
making it a success. He has charge of a large scliool in this place, 
and, judging from the rapid ratio of increase, his reputation has 
gone abroad. A reorganization of the Church in this place will 
be required. The prolonged drought of the past two years com- 
pelled many of the citizens to hunt better pastures for their stock, 
while others became disgusted, owing to the failures of crops, and 
left. As a consequence of there being no meetings the past year, 
because they had no pastor, many have backslidden, and it will re- 
quire careful labors to restore the lost sheep to the fold. With the 
vigilant assistance of Brother Carpenter, we are in hopes the Church 
will be more highly represented within the next year than ever be- 
fore. I am meeting with much encouragement. The citizens are 
kind, generous, and hospitable. Will commence a meeting at Paint 
Kock, in Concho County, on Friday next. 

With kind adieus, A. J. Potter. 

Mr. Potter was in San Saba in midwinter, when 



410 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the I^orther's cold breath had glazed the earth in 
sleet. More than one hundred miles from his own 
mountain - home, on Christmas - eve he attends a 
cheerful scene which would enchant an angel's 
heart — a beautiful Christmas-tree, all blooming 
with rich fruits of meritorious rewards to be given 
to hundreds of little, happy hearts, for Sabbath- 
school fidelity. Only a few years in the past the 
untutored Indian held his w^ild war-dance around 
the pole on which was tacked the white man's scalp. 
What a contrast! — scalps of "the pale-face" height- 
ening the rude glee of a savage, w^ild dance; and an 
evergreen -tree draped in generous gifts, gladden- 
ing lily-dimpled cheeks! Schools, Sunday-schools, 
and Christmas-trees, are gospel products in that 
border-land, planted there by the unexampled zeal 
of our aggressive hero, the immortalized Potter. 
A Christmas-tree! — a fadeless emblem of the Tree 
of Life in the immortal land. " The righteous shall 
eat the fruit of their doings'' — eat there the fruit of 
their doings here. All our good deeds in this life are 
hung on that Tree of Life, and we shall pluck and 
eat their fruit at the great, final gathering around 
that celestial Christmas-tree. Joyous throng ! myr- 
iads of happy angels gaze down on the scene, and 
shall gladden all heaven with their rapturous shouts 
when the prizes shall be handed to each of earth's 
toiling children. Gentle reader, may your humble 
name be called out on that great day to receive a 
cake of life-bread from that immortal tree! If you 
sow, you shall reap, if you faint not. 

This letter also reveals to the reader in other 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 411 

lands the present civilized status of these irontier- 
regions. Heathens no longer tread the wild savan- 
nas, nor range the unfenced prairies; but farms, vil- 
lages, schools, and churches, rise up to greet your 
coming, along this domain newly redeemed from 
savage rule. The great eagle and the cross unfurl 
their banners there, emblems of Liberty and Peace. 
The soldier planted the one, the preacher the other, 
and under their protective and elevating shields the 
arts of peace and the elements of religion begin to 
adorn the land so lately stained in blood. The pres- 
ent citizens lie down and sleep in the night-stillness 
of their own cabin-homes, while stars from tranquil 
skies look down upon their undisturbed repose — for 
none maketh them afraid. There is a peaceful, 
healthy home for you, dear reader, if you are one 
of earth's renting, delving millions. Be not afraid 
of the Indian's arrow now: peace reigns — the low 
of the wild ox is not disturbed by predatory hordes. 
Quiet Sabbath morn spreads its tranquil balm on 
dell and plain, and the dove's soft spring cooing is 
heard in the leafy woods, and here and there springs 
up the hardy stockman's cabin beside some placid 
pool, or sparkling stream, or rippling rill; and then 
you see the whited village — germ of growing town 
— looming up from the broad prairie's level bosom, 
disturbing the solitude of the long ages w^hich have 
reigned in unbroken silence from earth's birth-morn 
till now, save when disturbed by the savage yell of 
the red man, and the tramp and howl of w^ild beasts 
in the dark night-gloom, or in the silence of lonely 
day. There too the storm-cannonading thunders 



412 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

may have rent asunder the bosom of the night- 
tempest, and maddened winds may have swiftly 
driven their cloudy chariots along the skies, and 
the liery lightnings may have flashed their fitful 
lamps on the face of the prairie and the bosom of 
the muffled skies; but no civilized man was there 
to see the fearful majesty of the one, and hear the 
dread terror of the other. But now the voice of 
praise and the prayer of devotion are heard resound- 
ins: alono^ these ancient wilderness-wastes. Soon 
Sabbath church-bells shall send out their solemn 
peals upon the vast domain of mingled farms and 
cottage-homes of an industrious and peace-loving 
people. 

The toiling hand of Mr. Potter planted the gos- 
pel "cuttings" there, and now are they rooting 
deeply and spreading their visible foliage in the 
open daylight. In a few more decades this late 
untrodden wilderness shall blossom as the rose. 
Homeless strangers, come over and join us in this 
new, sunny land; do not fear, for this is not a 
stormy, though it is a wintry, country. Texas sel- 
dom has gales or cyclones, except on her seaboard. 
Galveston, Matagorda, and Indianola, are subject to 
frequent gales and fearful cyclones at about a period 
of twenty ^^ears from their first occurrence, and 
sometimes their sight is more alarming than hurtful. 

A night-storm at sea is the most terrific scene the 
eye of man ever looked upon. Far out on the 
ocean's agitated bosom one would think that the 
skies, and the ocean, and the winds, were at war in 
a life-and-death struggle. The wings of the tem- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 413 

pest spread out their black shadows wide over the 
world of w^aters, shutting in the last ray of star- 
light from the scene, and night's inky mantle hov- 
ers close upon the deep. The wild, raging winds 
sweep along the towering waves, and howl along 
the naked decks of the dismantled ship, which top- 
ples like a cork, and dips and drives through the 
foaming seas. At one sight, when the lightning's 
sheen reveals the scene, you see a million of white- 
crested waves dashing their angry foam against the 
storm-clouds, while. the lightning's fiery iist leaps 
down and smites the receding billows. But when the 
skies are blue, and the golden sun radiates the shore, 
and spreads its gilded calm on the sea, the scene is 
serenely sweet. 

But in this mountain-world storms seldom come; 
the winds drive directly on, and do but little if any 
harm, but cool the heated cheek. The mountains 
do not peer deep enough into the skies to arrest the 
clouds or tangle the winds; and they drive their 
unmolested folds along their airy path. 

Just here, for the information of strangers into 
whose hands this volume may chance to fall, we 
shall add a few remarks on ''Texas Northers." 
They entirel}^ control our winters. We have no 
winter only while they are blowing. At an}- time 
wdien the wind is not from the north, clerks and 
outdoor-laborers can leave off their coats. They 
usually begin to blow in the last part of September, 
and get cooler and cooler until night-frost nips veg- 
etation — mostly about the middle of November. 
They cease to visit us early in May, when the spring 



414 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

and summer sea-breezes set in. In September, 
April, and May, they are more pleasant than oth- 
erwise, and sometimes so in March. Often they 
are mild as a gentle zephyr, but sometimes boister- 
ous as the lion. Some of our hardest blows are 
under a blue sk}^; they are called "blue whistlers," 
and seem to gladden man and beast — they are 
healthy. But wet and sleeting Northers, which 
clothe the forest, and fields, and prairies, with ice, 
are trying on man and beast. They are of seldom 
recurrence. In twenty -three years we have seen 
perhaps not more than a half-dozen such. But 
when they come, a man or beast on open prairie, 
w^here the unopposed north wind may pour its 
ceaseless chill upon him, would freeze to death in a 
single hour. Persons organically diseased, or very 
delicate, ought to winter on the coast, or about El 
Paso, and retire to the mountains about the first of 
May, when the heat in other parts begins to be op- 
pressive. All nights in these mountains are cool 
and refreshing during the summer heats. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 415 



CHAPTER LI. 

Fort McKavett, Texas, April 12, 1881. 
I REACHED Concho on the 5th, and remained five and a half days, 
preaching seven sermons — two at San Angelo, and five at Ben Fick- 
lin — to large and attentive congregations. We always have good 
order on the frontier. Wicked men respect the gospel and the men 
who bear its message of mercy to this border-land. My Arkansas 
preacher, F. E. Townsend, is doing a fine work. Our bishops are 
doing noble service to this frontier by sending the best material at 
their command to supply it. Frontiersmen are not fools by a great 
deal. Many of them are well educated, and have listened to some 
of the ablest preachers in the older States. Our Church is gaining 
ground continually. I set out for this place, and traveled fifty miles 
that day, and "camped out" with the broad skies and shining stars 
the roof of my abiding-place. I reached here this morning, and 
have appointments to preach this afternoon and night. So you see 
I am pottering around on my "trail " at double-quick. By the way, 
there is something very poetical in camping out — at least, I found 
it so last night. After eating my supper, I wrapped my blanket 
around me, and lay down on the ground, with my head on a corn- 
sack. I soon felt the poetical inspiration, but when I began to com- 
pose I found that my poetical pump was not in working order. I 

began thus: 

Lonely and weary, I lay down to repose — 

Just then I remembered that once while camping out a pole-cat bit 
me through the nose, and "nose" would rhyme with "repose;" 
but then that happened years ago, and that would not answer my 
purpose. So I began another: 

"When my life's work is done, 

And'my last setting sun 
Will have sunk 'neath the hills of the west- 
Here I stalled again. It would never do to reduce those towering 
mountains of the west to mere hills. So I made another effort: 



416 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

The rolling current heats with force, 
And often drives me from my course. 

That may suit some places, but not this Western land just now. The 
drought has dried up all the streams, and instead of torrents we have 
to drive far and hard to get water for our ponies. I give it up. I 
do n't think I am much poet anyhow. I wish some others who write 
for the papers would make a like discovery about themselves. I 
dropped out of my poetical failure into the deep sleep of a weary 
man, when I was aroused by the keen howling of coyotes around 
me. So I finished my verse : 

Lonely and weary, I lay down to repose, 

Where the coyote howls and the wild flower grows. 

Poetry don't pay; it is hard to make, and often of no account when 
you have made it. The prairie-dogs added their yelps to the coy- 
otes' howling, but I slept again, feeling that in the loneliest spot 
in this wide world a man may have a cheerful heart who bears with- 
in him a clear conscience, and is trying to do the work that God as- 
signed him. A. J. Potter. 

The foregoing is copied from the Texas Christian 
Advocate, to give additional instances of Mr. Potter's 
ever humorous and cheerful cast of mind, as well as 
his acuteness of mental perception. What a power 
he would have been in the Church had he been 
fully armed with all the helps of a thorough early 
education ! But then he might not have so readily 
subjected himself to all the hardships of the awful 
border -toils. He is now the man for the place. 
Texas has only one Potter. See him alone among 
the wild beasts of the mountrin, wrapped up in his 
blanket, and bedding on the hard earth, miles away 
fi^om human habitation, while the coyote-wolf howls 
and the little prairie-pup yells around him. There 
he lies looking deep into the star-lit skies, and his 
merry, cheerful heart roams into the world of fancy, 
and he feels the humorous poesy of his solitude — 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 417 

!N'ature's own sincere child, on an errand of mercy 
and love to the guilty and the lost. A cheerful 
heart is the companion of innocence. An accusing 
conscience is the voice of guilt. A great poet said, 
"Conscience makes cowards of us all." A guilty 
conscience does. But true moral heroism is the 
ally of guiltlessness. A good conscience is an un- 
accusing one, and it and the peace of God are ever 
inmates of the same temple; they are inseparably 
joined. No guilty clouds drape the soul upon which 
God smiles, and conscience approves. The shekinah 
of peace is in the inner temple of the soul. 

No changes of season or place 

Would make any change in my mind ; 

While blessed with a sense of his love, 
A palace a toy would appear ; 

And prisons would palaces prove, 
If Jesus would dwell with me there. 

At the late session of the West Texas Conference, 
at Luling, Mr. Potter made a missionary address, in 
which he mentioned the story of the pole-cat biting 
his nose, and said that he feared that little quadru- 
ped more than the biped Indian bands. Indian ar- 
rows had never pierced his flesh, but the little musk- 
sacked mammal had inflicted a wound on his nose, 
the only one ever made on his person by any antag- 
onist. The truth is, that little skunk in Texas is a 
brave little fellow. He does not often retreat from 
the field before any foe. They abound from the 
Sabine to the Rio Grande, and from the gulf-beach 
to the mountains. The w^riter, traveling along a 
broad, beaten road, when thin, hurrying clouds veiled 
the moonlight, saw something moving in the road 



418 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

in front of him, but could not tell what it might be. 
His horse was not in favor of advancing too near 
to it. It paced along at an easy gait, with its rear 
plume erected to a perpendicular, ready for a dis- 
charge of its dewy-charged battery. Discovering 
at length the real character of our van-leader, we 
reined back our nag, refusing to venture a charge 
upon a foe so fearfully armed, and walked slowly 
along till the proud little hero gave us an open road. 

Many years ago a raw Dutchman landed at Yelas- 
00, at the mouth of the Brazos, and the citizens got 
him out into a bear-hunt. He had never seen either 
a bear or a pole-cat. There were many of both along 
the lower Brazos at that early day. The uninitiated 
German was stationed at a certain place, in order to 
give him a good chance to kill a bear. No bear 
appeared, but one of the larger-sized skunks came 
along, with his large bushy tail erect and unfurled 
as a great striped plume, and the silly Dutchman 
made an onslaught upon it, thinking it a young 
bear, at the same time receiving a copious sprinkle. 
But he soon returned to Yelasco, bearing the unmis- 
tabable odor of the late battle, when he was ques- 
tioned about his bear-hunt, and he replied, "Me 
dish kill von leetle bar, but he vas so sthrong five 
hoondred mens coul'ent shmelt him." 

Campers usually cook their meat by holding it 
near the fire on the point of a long green stick, and 
often use their fingers and teeth for forks and knives, 
and unless they are careful to cleanse their hands 
from grease, these brave little cats may make an at- 
tack on them in sleep. Mr. Potter must have left 



Andrew Jaci^on Potter. 419 

the temptation on his aquiline that fearful night. 
Most all the vast orders of the animal tribe inherit 
such a fear of man that they dare not venture on 
him, but the Texas musk-cat feels itself so securely 
guarded against all advances on its offensive odors 
that it seems not to fear any thing. Some of them 
are as large as great house-cats, and their musks are 
variegated in odor. Some of t.he older ones are 
sickeningly oiFensive. Their revolting scent will 
even turn the stomach of a dog. l^o wonder Mr. 
Potter feared them. He would not have truly known 
what had made the painful incisions in his nose in 
the dark night, when deep sleep was upon him, had 
not the aromatic intruder left some unmistakable 
perfumes about the camp. As the rosy-faced conk 
sings of the sea, the scent tells of the cat. 

Perhaps the highest point of true greatness in 
the life of Mr. Potter is just where his privation and 
self-subjection to hardships meet. The highest dis- 
play of divine love is seen in the humiliation and 
self-submission to suftering of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Truly it is great to endure sufferings and toils for 
the good of others. We think too of a zealous apos- 
tle who passed through prisons and perils on land 
and sea for the Church when we read of the peril- 
ous life of our pioneer missionary. 'No feathery bed 
nor downy pillow gives sweet repose to his weary 
frame at night, but he lies on the cold earth, and a 
sack of corn or a stone pillows his weary head. No 
cheerful, friendly voices in merry halls delight his 
care-worn mind; no table of good things satiates 
the cravings of hunger ; the howl of the night-wolf, 



420 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

the yelp of the wild dog, and the scream of the 
mountain vulture, regale his ears, and his lunch of 
bread, beef, and black coffee, make up his solitary 
meal. Here is an expression of real greatness that 
classes one above the order of the highest archan- 
gel. In their sphere of obedience there is no self- 
denial, no dangers encountered; but he who follows 
the greatest pattern of self-abnegation in the uni- 
verse, and fills up a measure of similar sufferings 
for the Church, must not live in the flesh, but, de- 
nying its pleasurable enjoyments, must often travel 
a road sterile and bare of this world's easy comforts. 
His work in its grand issues of good to society and 
the Church is more than great. A single ofiicer 
with a few timid soldiers subduing a great army, as 
Jephthah did, is valiant, but to establish the gospel 
kingdom in this wild land is greater than all. 

Here we copy an account of Mr. Potter sleeping 
beside a lone grave of an unknown infant, on the 
mountains of West Texas. It is from the facile pen 
of Dr. Jacob S. West, of Boerne, Texas. 

Eev. H. a. Graves : — Inclosed please find the account which 
I have sketched of the little mountain grave beside which Mr. Pot- 
ter passed a lonely night, which you requested of nie, to be inserted 
in his Biography, which you are now writing. Respectfully, 

Jacob S. West. 

Boerne, Texas, May 5, 1881. 

" The following lines were suggested to me by a 
circumstance related by my friend, the Eev. A. J. 
Potter. His ministerial duties led him to traverse 
nearly all of this vast Western wild, which is bound- 
ed on the south and west by the Eio Grande. On 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 421 

a recent trip night came npon him in the wild 
mountains far from any human habitation, and he 
passed its lonely hours in the untenanted mountain 
forest. After asking divine protection for the night, 
he lay down to rest, the blue canopy of heaven his 
covering, and the twinkling stars his lamps, and the 
green swarded earth his humble bed. He awoke in 
the morning while the sun was flooding the world 
with his golden glories, the heavens flecked with 
fleecy clouds, and their shadows passing over the 
grand old hills and flowery vales, presenting a land- 
scape view as those of a fairy-land. Examining his 
position, he found he had slept beside a fresh-cut 
log and another near to it, and between them he 
found a little grave — a humble mound of earth 
protected by those logs of wood. Unable to trace 
the history of that little grave, we suppose that 
some emigrant-train encamped there with a sick 
child, and there in the wild forest death ended its 
earthly career. After devotions appropriate to the 
presence of death, he gathered wild flowers, and 
decorated that little baby-grave, and bade it farewell. 
With this explanation, we give the reader the fol- 
lowing verses about that infant's grave: 

" He knelt beside that little grave, 
And offered praise to God, 
Who will the little stranger save 
That sleeps beneath this sod. 

"No mark to indicate the name 
Of parent, nation, tongue. 
The silent grave can but proclaim 
The sleeper died while young. 



422 Andrew Jackson Potter. ♦ 

" Bright stars above, grand hills around, 
Sweet flowers their vigils keep, 
In silence solemn and profound, 
But mourners — none to weep. 

"The v/inds may whisper as they fly, 
Or pause to drop a tear; 
Or storms may rage, one Friend is nigh, 
Who conquers death and fear. 

"Whose child sleeps in this flowery vale? 
Whose hearts appealed to God ? 
Who waked those wilds with mournful wail ? 
Who sleeps beneath this sod ? 

"A long and dreary road they trod, 

And braved a fearful doom. 
To give this babe away to God, 
And dig its quiet tomb. 

"No bell to toll, no friend to call, 
No casket, shroud, nor box, 
Its simple infant slip is all 

That screens it from the rocks. 

"This unknown waif will sweetly rest, 
Though torn by wolves in twain ; 
Jesus will take it to his breast, 
And raise to life again. 

"To regions bright, where angels dwell, 
This waif will wing its way ; 
No matter how or why it fell, 
'T will rise in endless day. 

"By faith's pure light that region bright 
Our raptured eye can see. 
Young children robed in spotless white, 
And heavenly harmony. 

"Like visions from the land of rest, 
I see sweet cherubs fair. 
Bright, glorious stars, that heaven has blest. 
Through thee, O Death ! they're there. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 423 

"Bright visions fade, dreams pass away, 
Fast fleeting as our breath ; 
Life cannot be freed from decay 
Only through thee, O Death !" 

Dr. West has just given the reader a touching 
account of the lone grave of an infant, and some 
pathetic verses on the same; but because of its ex- 
quisite beauty we here transcribe from the Texas 
Christian Advocate Mr. Potter's description of the 
scene. It is there headed, 

A BABY'S GKAVE. 
Mr. Editor: — Allow me to tell about the infant's 
lonely grave on the mountain in Gillespie County. 
On the great mountain " divide " there are broad 
miles of post-oak plains as level as a floor. Neat 
verdant post-oak trees shade the green grass carpet 
beneath them. JSTo undergrowth, nothing but the 
unpastured grasses cover the smooth, woodland 
lawn, making up a scene on a calm and sunny day 
as lovely as sinless Eden. Well remembering the 
good grass there for my ponies, when on my late 
return from Fort Concho, I made a long day's drive 
to reach it, but did not get to the place I wanted to 
camp at till after nightfall. Being weary from hard 
travel, I hobbled out my ponies, took a cold lunch, 
laid down my sack of corn for a pillow, rolled my 
tired body in my blanket, and lay down to rest 
upon the cold bosom of "our common mother." 
When I awoke next morning, the sun's early beams 
were glistening the chilly night-dews on my head 
and blanket. On looking around, to my utter as- 
tonishment I had slept all night on the verge of the 



424 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

unsodded grave of an infant stranger! The thoughts 
and emotions which instantly thronged the mind a 
poet's pen cannot fully tell. Who could it be? 
How lone and silent its sleep! What loving hearts, 
perhaps far away, cluster round the baby's mount- 
ain-grave to weep! What mortal pangs ended its 
brief sojourn in these wild solitudes, and dug for it 
this little grave! Did not a thousand celestial an- 
gels escort its innocent spirit to a brighter Eden 
above? Ah, in my lone night-dreams I had slum- 
bered with the early dead on the spot where glory- 
adorned angel sentinels tread around the young 
sleeper's grave! They were there, and "I knew it 
not." Till the last trump shall awake it from its 
long death -sleep, these immortal guardians shall 
love to meet at that little grave, and adorn the sacred 
scene with glory's mild hues more lovely than the 
moon's silvery beams. 

Let cold infidelity turn pale and die, 
For in this grave doth infant ashes lie. 
Say, is it saved, or is it lost? 
It died, for Adam sinned ; it lives, for Christ hath died. 

Ko doubt some emigrant stranger, passing over 
these mountain regions, buried their dear little baby 
there. It was done last summer. The little hillock 
is not yet grass-covered, and a post-oak tree cut 
down at the time had full-grown leaves. The log 
was cut in two pieces, and one piece laid on each 
side to protect it. Beside one of these logs we had 
lain all night. The wild forest around was clothed 
with many pretty mountain-flowers, and we strolled 
around and gathered man}^ of them, and decorated 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 425 

the little grave with them. I took my knife and 
cut brush, and covered it over to protect its hal- 
lowed precincts from the wild beast of the unpeo- 
pled forest. Then I knelt down beside it, and gave 
myself and the infant sleeper to that kind Eye 
which sees the sparrow fall, and realized that God 
and angels were near; and feeling that if I should 
meet the sweet spirit in heaven, I should tell it that 
I had passed a night's lonely shade beside the grave 
of its dust in the mountain-w^ilds. May this story 
of the baby's grave enkindle some true poet's lute 
to sing of it in verse. I want to see it. 

A. J. Potter. 

In this mountain -clime, where for hundreds of 
years uncivilized man has roamed over heights and 
vales in pursuit of game, and where for the past 
half-century the red and the white man have met 
and contested the ground in deadly combat, and 
too the untamed man has stealthily slain the father, 
mother, and their babes, and the heartless robber 
killed his unsuspecting fellow, we walk over their 
hidden graves, and tread unconsciously on their 
nnburied dust; but for one to sleep beside the un- 
grassed hillock of a lone grave away on the sum- 
mit of a wilderness mountain, far from the habita- 
tion of man, awakens in us a sense of sad loneliness 
akin to the dark solitude of the grave itself. Though 
we know that the grave is the end of man, the 
tomb his last earthly abode, yet we in life abhor its 
dust, and shrink away from its silent mansion; and 
though our dearly-loved ones are there, we desire 



426 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

not the fellowship of the grave, nor the company 
of the dead. Abraham bought the cave of Machpe- 
lah to hide his beautiful and beloved Sarah out of 
sight. We feel more at home at the graves of kin- 
dred than with those of strangers. But the grave 
makes all akin — it binds us in the bond of a com- 
mon dust. 

The tall, the wise, the reverend head, 
Must lie as low as ours. 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 427 



CHAPTER LII. 

In the fall of 1879 the Conference was held at Gon- 
zales. Bishop McTyeire presided, and Mr. Potter 
was appointed presiding elder of the Mason, or 
Mountain, District for the year 1880, and he soon 
set out for Ben Ficklin, the county-site of Tom 
Green County, on the extreme border of American 
dominion. Fort Concho, a military post, is near to 
it. In Ben Ficklin, the hotel-keeper is an old Cal- 
ifornian. Having spent much of his life outside of 
the ranges of civilization, he is quite plain and a 
little rough in manners, a man of no put-on for pat- 
ronage. He was one of the first settlers in Concho. 
His name is Robert Miller, but for brevity they call 
him " Bob." He was badly pock-marked, and does 
not present a handsome physique. When Mr. Potter 
drove up to his hotel, he stepped out, and Mr. Pot- 
ter asked to spend the night at his hotel, to which 
he rephed, "Yes; git out." While unharnessing 
the horse, Mr. Potter said to him, "I guess I might 
as well tell you who you have on your hands for 
the night. You have a Methodist preacher to en- 
tertain." Mr. Miller replied, "I guess you are at 
the right place. I am considered the hardest case 
in this town." After putting away the horse, he 
came in, lighted his cigarette, and said, " Preacher, I 
have not known any thing about religion since I 



428 Andkew Jackson Potter. 

was nine years old." "Well, sir, what did you 
know about it then?" "Well," said Mr. Miller, 
" my father had religion — preacher, he had it — there 
was no mistake about it. He could sing too. how 
he used to stir up camp-meetings with his songs!" 
He then added, "I am a wicked man, but I am no 
hypocrite. All the infidels in the world could not 
make me believe that my father did not have relig- 
ion." When bed-time came, he got down his large 
old Family Bible, and said, "Parson, you are the 
first preacher I ever entertained in my life, and here 
are some of my family grown who have never heard 
a prayer in their lives; you must pray with my 
family." After prayer, Mr. Miller began to hum 
over some remembered verses of his father's songs of 
long years ago — though not sonorous, yet of great 
earnestness. The long ago was as a shadowy dream 
to him; only a verse or two he could call up. At 
last he got started on the "Old Family Bible": 

How painfully pleasing the fond recollection 
Of youthful connections and innocent joy ! 

But here he stalled; he could go no farther, and he 
said, "Preacher, I have no hymn-book;" and then 
he turned to his wife, and said, " Lizzie, give me the 
Fourth Reader. It has the 'Iron-bound Bucket' 
in it, and it goes in that tune, and is a good substi- 
tute;" and he turned to it, and sung with great an- 
imation and pathos: 

The iron-bound bucket, 
The moss-covered bucket, 
That hung in the well. 

Then addressing Mr. Potter, he said, "]N"ow, preach- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 429 

er, when do you think you can preach for us?" 
Friday night was set as the time to begin to preach. 
Mr. Miller swept out the court-house, and lighted it 
up at night, and soon a large and interested audience 
was listening to the soul-renewing story of redeem- 
ing love under the border of the shades of heathen- 
ism. That is the way our frontier preacher plants 
the cross in the very shadows of barbarism, where 
the voice of the preacher and the wild Indian's war- 
wdioop almost mingle their echoes along the border- 
line. In the case of Mr. Miller we are deeply im- 
pressed with the lasting impressions made on the 
young mind in early life by pious parents. Mr. 
Miller had no associations with the pious home- 
scenes after having passed his ninth 3^ear. Perhaps 
then his parents died, and he w^andered over the 
world a strange orphan-boy, even in the domain of 
heathenism; but in all his strange pilgrimage among 
men, good or bad, he never lost the impression made 
on his boy-mind about the religion of his father. 
He saw its heavenly virtues as they shone in the 
face and life of his father. " By their fruits they 
shall be known." How encouraging to parents to 
be careful to set an example before their children 
that cannot be gainsaid! It is as seed sown in good 
ground — yielding its harvest in the future. what 
an imperishable monument to his piety was that 
earnest compliment, "I know my father had relig- 
ion!" 'No infidelity can disturb the foundation of 
that faith. Dear reader, are you an orphan in the 
world? Are your parents no more? Were they relig- 
ious? And are you still in sin, and out of the Church? 



430 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Does memory often stray back to childhood's home, 
and call up the recollection of father, mother, broth- 
ers, and sisters, now no more among men, or far 
away in other climes? Then let her gentle mem- 
ories make you a child again, and bring back your 
tender sense of Jesus and his love for you. With- 
out religion you cannot reasonably hope to have a 
reunion in that land where home - affinities shall 
never be broken up, "where friends shall meet 
again who have loved, who have loved." 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 431 



CHAPTER LIII. 

Mr. Potter's labors as presiding elder have clearly 
evinced the wisdom of his appointment to that re- 
sponsible place in the Church. He has met all its 
onerous duties with pleasing acceptability to the 
people and profit to the Church. He has made a 
good presiding officer in the Quarterly and in the 
District Conferences, managing the finances and 
church -building interest, and especially the great 
mission enterprises, at home and abroad; though his 
district is really a mission -field itself, yet it fur- 
nishes a quota for the home and the foreign fields. 

The responsible duties of his office have enkin- 
dled'a fresh flame in his zeal in the pulpit, and add- 
ed to the abundance of his toils. His travels on 
wheels and horseback are almost incessant in the 
dreary winter's chill and the summer's scorching 
heats, and camping alone in the wilderness inter- 
vening between the settlements, when night's sable 
mantle robes the earth. He is at quarterly-meet- 
ings, camp -meetings, and extra -meetings, till the 
rolling year has stealthily glided away. Every- 
where the Church is extending her borders and 
building up her temples of praise, and the land be- 
gins to echo with her songs of triumph and her 
shauts of joy. 

To test a man's strength you must put the weight 



432 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

upon him. Circumstances develop men's abilities. 
Great powers must have large spheres in which to 
operate. A great general does a small business 
while in the single command of a petty company, 
when he is endowed with skill to manipulate great 
armies. Mr. Potter sounds his trumpet with a 
double blast. 

We have now passed over the salient incidents 
in the life of our hero, covering a chronological area 
of nearly fifty-two years, and we leave him in the 
hands of an unrevealed future, guided by that wise 
and gracious Providence which has safely conducted 
him through the dangerous vicissitudes of a half- 
century. We part with him in the realms of a vast 
field of ministerial toil, presiding elder of a mount- 
ainous belt stretching over a border-range of two 
hundred miles. In the quarterly discharge of the 
duties of his office he is detained in his extensive 
field from his home and family as long as two and 
three weeks at a time, being with them only a few 
weeks between the quarterly terms. 

We shake hands with him in the narrow path of 
duty, along which divine light shineth unto the per- 
fect day, with his back upon the past, and his eje 
fixed on the golden day-beams into which that path 
is soon to lead him. As he advances in age as the 
days and years roll by, so truly does he progress in 
the life of things sacred and divine. As a long 
train of connected cars, dropping off one or two at 
each station as it passes along the iron road, so he 
is leaving behind him peculiarities of nature and 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 433 

habit. ]!^earing the great celestial center of perfec- 
tion, he is being more and more conformed to its 
transforming and hallowing forces. Though still 
in earthly spheres, he is becoming more allied to 
the citizenship of the celestial. 

Such is even ligature's progressive methods: first 
is seen her tender blade, the verdant stalk, the rip- 
ening grain, and then the yellow harvest. * It is 
truly so in spiritual life: we are first babes, then 
men, and then we are in the staidness of mature 
age in the life of things divine: as we near the 
future state we leave the earthly and take on the 
heavenly. 

While in the body each man is a personal para- 
dox: his "flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the 
Spirit against the flesh." The earthl}^ is first, but a 
Christian is to mortify the earthly, and give the do- 
minion to the spiritual, the heavenly. Unique or 
eccentric natures, in which the paradoxical elements 
alternate, manifest prominent extremes; but with 
those temperaments w^here the antagonizing forces 
are of a more even balance, there is an exhibit of 
order and harmony. The universe seems to be con- 
stituted on the base of the opposite poles; its order 
is an equipoise between contrarieties, as the balance 
of the scales is the result of the precise equality of 
the opposite weights in each end thereof. But man 
in his fall inherited an evil force which gives pre- 
ponderance to his animal, earthly nature; and those 
peculiar natures — as that of our eccentric hero — 
where the opposing elements of fallen humanity 
crop out so clearly, must ever, while unregenerate, 

2S 



434 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

display the usual superiority of the evil; hut in the 
nature and life of our hero, in his worst days, his 
acts of social benefits to men are traceable to almost 
a parallel with the hurtful, and since the day of his 
regeneration to this writing he has gradually risen 
above the gravitating forces of the earthly. No 
longer is he the "Fighting Parson;" he now owns 
no "Winchester," carries no revolver; no belt of 
death -dealing cartridges encircles his waist — his 
sword lies rusting in its sheath. His Bible now has 
no fellowship with the sword; his armory is now of 
heavenly making. Belted around with the girdle 
of truth, clad with the panoply of God, and armed 
with the sword of the Spirit, to defend and build 
up that "kingdom which is not of this world," he 
traverses his mountain district in the name of that 
immaculate specimen of humanity who said to an 
eccentric Peter, "Put up thy sword." No longer 
do you see in him the preacher and the pugilist — in 
him the preacher is all, is alone. As the ancient 
zealots who wrought on the foundations of the 
temple and city walls with their carnal weapons in 
one hand and their good intentions in the other, so 
he has labored many years in laying the founda- 
tions of the outer courts of the true temple in this 
border-land; but now he moves amid the splendors 
of i,ts inner glories. 

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, our 
Saviour gives us the opposite extremes of wealth 
and poverty, showing that no depth of earthly want 
and misery can shut men out of heaven, and no 
elevations of riches and honors can prevent their 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 435 

deserved damnation. Man, from the highest possi- 
ble attainments in earthly glories, like unto Caper- 
naum of old, shall be cast down to hell according 
to his just desert, and from the lowest vale of dis- 
repute, of poverty, and rags, shall be gladly borne 
by the joyous angels to the paradise of God, where 
the merits of grace shall unlock to him the portals 
of immortality. 

But in the memorable instance of St. Paul, once 
the chief of sinners, we may shift the antithesis be- 
tvveen him as the greatest sinner and the self-reli- 
ant moralist. The best specimens of natural men, 
the most upright and benevolent characters of self- 
made moralists, who feel not the need of a gracious 
Saviour, may not escape the final doom of the 
wicked; while the worst sinners who accept of that 
salvation w^hich the gospel offers freely to all grades 
and classes of men, shall be saved and ranked with 
the "sons of God." 

St. Paul and our remarkable hero are marked in- 
stances of the power of grace to save: one in the 
earliest ages of the Church, the other in modern 
times; the scenes of the glory of the one in ancient 
Judea and Asia Minor, and that of the other in the 
marginal borders of Western Texas; the first a 
learned, proud, bigoted, wicked Pharisee; the sec- 
ond an unlearned, impoverished, desperate son of 
the grog-house — both lifted on high by the all-pow- 
erful leverage of grace. The earthly fame of the 
first has sent its resounding echoes along the waves 
of time to our day, and his jubilant chants of vic- 
tory swell the anthems of glory; while the merited 



436 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

honors of our living hero shall sound along the 
corridors of coming ages, till many unborn millions 
shall read of his zeal and talk of his triumphs in 
these savage wilds. 

A physical force which might chain down the 
tides of the seas, or reverse the course of the Father 
of American Waters, and cause it to pour its vast 
liquid volumes into the Northern Ocean instead of 
the Southern Gulf, would not be a greater mechan- 
ical might than that wonderful power of grace 
which changed and reversed the life-course of such 
wicked men. As polished marble pillars on the 
path of life, they speak of the triumph of religion 
in the earth. 

This little book traverses a vast field of facts and 
subjects directly or incidentally associated with the 
events of a most wonderful life of nearly fifty-two 
years. We have striven to be true and correct in 
all of our narrations, of both the evil and the good, 
and can safely vouch for their verity. If there is 
any inaccuracy, it may be in chronology and the 
names of places — possibly there may be some little 
incorrectness in those departments. Mr. Potter did 
not keep a journal or diary, and all the incidents of 
his early history have been copied from his mem- 
ory, having been repeated to me verbally, or mailed 
to me in recent written manuscript. 

But persons who have schooled their memories to 
retain facts and dates usually have strong and en- 
larged capacities of recollection. It is especially 
true with Mr. Potter. His mind is still like the 
paper which has just been pressed to the type — it 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 437 

retains all the impressions of the type. He seems 
not to have forgotten scarcely any thing which may 
have transpired between to-day and his childhood. 
Many of those remembered events do not appear in 
the pages of this volume. His mind is a hbrary of 
facts, and contains a gazetteer of names and a vol- 
ume of chronological data. So that we are of the 
opinion that if there are any errors at all in those 
things, they are insignificant. Hence we commit 
this little book to the reading public as deserving 
its confidence, in its strict conformity to truth. 

If the reader cannot indorse all of our comments 
on some of the leading facts herein contained, we 
only ask of him to endeavor with all his might to 
avoid the evil and emulate the good, for the au- 
thor's design is to do good in the world when his 
tongue and pen are silent. 



438 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER LIY. 

A CHAPTER in this biographical volume is due the 
wife of Mr. Potter. She was a native of Missouri. 
Her maiden name was Emily C. Guin. Her fam- 
ily moved to Texas many years ago, and were in 
the terrible wreck of the Independence off Pass 
Caballo. In that catastrophe they lost all but their 
lives. They settled in Bastrop County, where she 
was married to Mr. Potter, in 1853, as stated else- 
where. Her mother was a widow at the time of 
her marriage, and she remained w^ith her till her 
death. 

It was an evening of the dawning of a new morn- 
ing to her life, when her husband came after her to 
go with him to that great religious revival on Craft's 
Prairie. "When he informed her of his determina- 
tion to reform his life, it must have been to her as 
the uprising of a new sun on a long night of dark- 
ness. For nearly three dreary years, with little 
hope, she had seen him go and come under the force 
of early-formed and long-continued habits of dissi- 
pation; his daily resort the grocery, the race-turf, 
or the gaming-table; his society the abandoned, the 
drunken, the blasphemous, and the reckless class of 
men — men armed with implements of blood and 
slaughter. She knew not when the saddening news 
might reach her that he had fallen in some bloody 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 439 

combat over the gaming-table, or brought home to 
her a bleeding cripple for life. In the long, long 
days of his absence fear must have spread a melan- 
choly veil over her mind, and forebodings of evil 
must have caused those early years of wedded-life 
to drag their weary days slowly away. Three years 
of heart-cankering fears bordering on despair are 
enough to crush the most delicate thing the God of 
!N'ature ever made upon this earth — a gentle woman^s 
heart. A lute broken, or a harp with all its chords 
unstrung, is the emblem of a disconsolate w^ife. 
Earth has no cement to mend a woman's broken 
heart. As the flower, when the little worm has 
eaten at its heart, wilts and fades, so remediless 
heart-griefs in silence wilt her charms and pale her 
for the tomb of her woes. When her almost hope- 
less husband said to her, ''Emily, I have come after 
you to go w^ith me to the meeting; I am going to 
do better and seek religion," she must have instantly 
felt the thrill of a new life for her earthly future. 
All the changed happy future must have loomed 
before her hope in a moment. A sober, industri- 
ous, home-loving husband, and all the peace and 
bliss of home-life glowed in her mind. Surely she 
was ready to go anywhere to see him changed into 
his right mind. More than a thousand seraphs of 
gladness may have danced in the sunlight of joy 
about her all along that ten -mile journey to the 
scene of that great revival, for there hope prophe- 
sied that her inebriate husband would be "born 
again" — begin life anew — be a new man — lead a 
better life. Sure enough, there he entered the path 



440 ' Andrew Jackson Potter. 

to a new era — began the first page in the novel 
book. At that great meeting she too professed re- 
ligion, and joined the Church with her husband. 
That day to them was the first in their sacred year — 
a year to last to the end of life. One quarter of a 
century has now passed slowly by, and together still 
they advance, side by side, along that way where 
the light shineth to the perfect day. She was the 
woman to fill the station to which she was called — 
the wife of the great pioneer-evangelist of the quasi- 
savage border. Physically a robust, queenly-look- 
ing woman, of a strong constitution, and a picture 
of good health, and redolent with the charms of 
feminine beauty; endowed with decision of char- 
acter, and a large share of practical sense in the 
department of the useful, she was well qualified to 
meet the duties of the onerous charge which should 
eventually fall to her lot, in the long-repeated ab-^ 
sence of her husband, when on his lengthened tours 
along the Great West as a missionary pioneer. For 
many years he has been almost a stranger at home. 
Bishop Pierce significantly styled their mountain- 
home "his wife's house." There she is the all — 
head and manager in and out of doors; the house, 
the kitchen, the larder, the farm, and the stock, all 
come under her control. When he has a few spare 
days at home, and gets out to see after temporal 
concerns, he is likely to get hold of matters at the 
wrong end, and get them into a tangle, and have to 
call on her for light and aid to get things in order 
again. In the shifting events of twenty years she 
has managed mainly to raise the family, and collect 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 441 

and hold together the homestead, and a nice little 
stock of horses and cattle, the preacher's wages 
seldom reaching the scale of half, and sometimes 
not one -third, rations. She is a woman of great 
energ}^, indnstry, and zeal, in the duties of domes- 
tic life. She needs be of that class. God fitted her 
for the sphere, and fully indeed has she bravely met 
all its demands. She has this year given birth to 
her fifteenth child — twelve now living. Bearing all 
the cares of childhood, managing, governing, and 
training them in the multitude of infant and juve- 
nile strifes and wrongs, with the addition of all the 
vexations arising from business affairs from the out- 
door world, she ever had the heaviest end of life's 
burdens to bear; yet she has ever walked right on 
with all their toilsome duties upon her, as if their 
weight was unfelt. I^ot complaining or revolting, 
dutiful has she been to the calls of the Church to 
her husband. No matter where the path of duty 
led, she objected not a word. If it lay along the 
peopled plains, no matter; if away along the liio 
Grande, no matter; if amid mountain-wilds, beset 
with brigands and savage hordes, all right with her, 
because her husband was the "called of God," "the 
anointed of the Lord," and over him hung the guid- 
ing, the protecting "cloudy pillar." Once upon a 
time the writer of this little sketch passed a night 
at her home, when she said to him that she had 
given her husband to the Church, and that she en- 
deavored to take care of the family and their cottage- 
home. Noble woman ! Soldier of the cross! Truly 
has she carried the most weighty end of that cross. 



442 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Her sense of obligation to God and his Church for 
the rescue of her husband from the dreadful vortex 
into which the path of sin had led him was as deep 
as life, and reaches unto the grave. As a brand 
snatched from the fire, he was the Lord's, and be- 
longed to his Church. As a sinner, the grocery was 
his home; and now, as a wandering minister of 
Jesus, he is more at home, and a thousand times 
more pleasant; so withal she is the gainer. Had he 
continued in the transgressor's road, long ago he 
must have fallen a bloody victim to bar-room cru- 
elty, or some catastrophe on the race-turf, or at the 
gaming-table. Had he fallen into the grave from 
the low haunts of vice, he would have left a dark 
example for their children to imitate, and hung a 
veil of sadness on her heart at the memory of his 
wrongs, and the terror of his future doom. But 
now she is more than willing to give him to the 
Church which arrested and saved him. He is her 
saved man. All duties in home-life are cheerfully 
discharged with one eye fixed on keeping him in 
the field of progress and triumph, and the other on 
her own, and the salvation of her home -charge. 
Surely, in the last great day she shall share with 
him in the laborer's rewards. The stars which 
may deck his crown may also shine as gems in her 
coronet of glory, for she has truly been his help- 
meet here in the vineyard of Christ. God bless 
the noble, self-sacrificing woman, while toiling in. 
her home-sphere! 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 44^ 



CHAPTEK LV. 

Such is the interest involved in a minister's relation 
to female society in the Church and in the world, 
and the vital importance attaching to his timely and 
prudent marriage, we cannot willingly close this lit- 
tle volume until we shall have devoted a brief chap- 
ter to their consideration. 

Forty years' experience has impressed us with 
the wisdom of Mr. Wesley's advisory admonition 
to ministers, " To converse prudently with women." 
That preceptive counsel of a grave divine the author 
has studiously and cautiously observed through his 
entire ministerial career. To him it has been a 
shield to ward off temptation. The manner of his 
early marriage was a rash act, and does not deserve 
a following. 

Woman is the mortal angel — the queen of the 
earth. Helen's beauty caused the siege and cost the 
burning of ancient Troy. The charms of Egypt's 
queen, the lilied Cleopatra, captured Mark Antony 
of Rome. Woman's smile rules the world, and the 
dignity of the pulpit bows at the shrine of her bri- 
dal-altar. God has painted her face with the charms 
of fascinating beauty, so that her "witching smile 
will catch man's youthful fancy." He made her to 
be loved — wedded. Her smiles are thrilling, and 
her charms are dangerous. Ministerial celibacy is 



444 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

not in the creeds of Protestantism. Marriage is 
their right at a suitable time, and to a proper help- 
meet. Many a promising minister of Jesus Christ 
has been enslaved and crippled through all his after- 
life by a hasty and unsuitable alliance. Virtuous 
female society is refining and ennobling to man, but 
young ministers who have not acquired knowledge 
and experience enough to justify their marriage had 
better not tarry long in the parlor where beauty 
flashes its mild fires from dove-like eyes — linger not 
till Cupid has pierced the heart and spread the 
magic charm of love about its aiFections. If you 
tarry there we cannot help you; you are captured — 
gone; and when you have won your Delilah, part 
of Samson's pulpit-locks are shorn. Do not linger 
there — to books and to prayers. Do not imagine 
that none ever were as she, and that none shall ever 
be equal unto her. Think not that no rose so pret- 
ty or so sweet ever bloomed on bush before, or that 
none so lovely shall appear again. While the ages 
last, the coming years shall reproduce those as rich 
in charms ind as delicate in sweet odors. Since 
Eve, the primal mother, was driven from her flow- 
ery Eden, her daughters have been lovely and fair 
each revolving age, and shall still bloom, as the 
rose, along life's pathway, till time shall be no more. 
Do not fear that you shall nevermore look on one 
so amiable. As the wild prairies are clothed in 
variegated flowers in May's dewy morn, so the par- 
lors of cities and rural shades shall be ever adorned 
with the charms of enrobed fair ones; and among 
the multitude of budding pinks and lilies there is 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 445 

one for you, if you shall prepare yourself to deserve 
one so like the nymphs which grace the halls in 
celestial spheres. Then be not hasty to fall in love 
with graceful smiles or jeweled lingers. Kash and 
hurried w^eddings often soon reveal the mistake the 
young lovers had made, but too late for a remedy. 
To be enamored Avith simple beauty is not wise, for 
it is a fading charm. It is IN'ature's gloss on the 
feature — a glistening ripple on the bosom of the 
tranquil bay. But there is a fadeless, peaceful hue 
that glows on the cheek and beams from the eye of 
virtuous merit, because it comes from the heart — an 
inward adorning of a meek and a gentle nature, 
which even in the sight of God is of great price. 
Rustling robes of costly silks, or glistening satins 
draped in tucks, bows, and ruffles, painted faces 
wreathed with factitious smiles, and heads attired, 
as Jezebel of olden fame, with queenly gems and 
flowers, do not make up the paragon of beauty a 
minister of the gospel ought to love. Beauties of 
I^ature may be loved, but those of Art admired. 
Conjugal love, to endure when all forms of the vis- 
ible tints have faded, must root in the imperishable 
virtues of the heart. 

If you wait in toiling labors and patient study in 
the vast domain of theological research, until you 
have qualified yourself to fill the calls the Church 
may make for your services, and not burden her in- 
terest by the cost of a family, then may you love 
and wed a deserving one, who shall prove a help to 
you in the vineyard of the Lord. A preacher's 
wife, who is one indeed, is called of God to that sa- 



446 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

cred place; but if you get in a hurry, and take one 
to your side whom God has not chosen for you, she 
may turn out to be a thorn in your flesh, and a 
shade over your pulpit. An itinerant's wife has 
the heaviest end of life's cares on her shoulders, 
and her needs of grace and qualifications for her 
tasks are large. She must possess intelligence, 
industry, enterprise, economy, neatness, and a 
double portion of patience, and a full measure of 
devotedness to the cause for whose interests her 
husband is to give the toils of his life. All home 
aftairs are in her hands — the smoke-house, kitchen, 
cradle, and parlor, demand her daily attentions. JSi o 
novel - reading, nervous, sylvan nymph can meet 
their demands. A true Christian woman only can 
fill that important sphere — such a one as St. Paul 
depicts in his first letter to Timothy: "In like man- 
ner also, that women adorn themselves in modest 
apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with 
braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but 
(which becometh women professing godliness) with 
good works." A fashionable attire on the person 
of a minister's wife is out of place, and, unlike the 
more valuable inner graces, intended to adorn the 
hidden person of the heart. And a costly catalogue 
of gemmed ornaments is the outcrop of a silly pride, 
totally antagonizing all the finer Christian graces 
of a meek and quiet spirit. Mrs. Potter never dis- 
played any of those vain and silly desires after the 
outward glitter of fine or gay dressing. Her ward- 
robe has ever been of that modest hue so highly 
commended by the apostle as becoming women pro- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 447 

fessing godliness. Indeed, sncli have been the in- 
cessant demands on her time and attention in her 
home domain, during the oft-repeated long absence 
of her husband, she had little opportunity of asso- 
ciating with the outside world. Display in society 
has had no place in the sum of her motives and 
duties. Her home has been to her a compact em- 
pire. It taxed all her abilities of mind and body to 
meet promptly all its ever-recurring requisitions. 
As a faithful sentinel, she is always at her place at 
the famil}^- board of her mountain -home — ready 
to welcome her husband on his return, tired and 
worn from travel and toil; ready to bid him ''God- 
speed" when departing to renewed labors. Here 
she has served the Church in her sphere; there she 
shall be free to share the rewards. 



448 Andrew Jackson Potter. 



CHAPTER LYI. 

This chapter is devoted to young men and youthful 
ministers of the gospel. Too many young men pass 
their youth without au}^ well-defined aim in life — 
no trade, no profession, no vocation, fixed upon. 
Ever}' youth should have some settled object in his 
mind's eye, as his pursuit in all after-life, by the 
time he has reached his twenty-first year — if before 
that period the better. Life is short, and no time 
is to be lost in youth's valuable years. Each year 
spent idly is gone, never to be regained. A full 
day's work includes the gentle hours of the early 
morn as well as the quiet evening. The ninth and 
eleventh hours make up but a fraction of the day. 
Young manhood has no term of months or years 
to spend in "wild-oats sowing; " every hour is of 
priceless value; none to waste at the dance-hall, or 
the race-course, or at the gaming-saloon, or at the 
dram-shop. Life's demands of the young of this 
age are so numerous, so complicated, so high, that 
a preparation to meet them, and a full discharge of 
all their injunctions, cover the entire span from 
early boyhood to the tomb. Sport, fun, and frolic, 
have no chapter in youth's Book of Life in our day; 
learning and doing fill up the entire volume. Much 
is to be learned, and more to be done, in life's short 
day. Dear reader, you must not let the ball of prog- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 449 

ress take a backward turn in your clay; you must 
roll it higher up the steeps of civilization than your 
fathers have carried it. The phme on which you 
begin your career reaches farther and extends wider 
than the one on which your predecessors have acted; 
your obligations are parallel with your sphere of 
operation ; you must hand down the improved State 
and Church to the generation which is to succeed 
you, as your fathers have transferred, or will transfer, 
their valuable immunities to you. Do not let them 
be marred in your hands. Science, art, and religion, 
have gathered their vast treasures from the volumes 
of the ages, and they shall lay them, without price, 
at your feet. You begin where your fathers end 
life's career; you take hold on the destiny of the 
race where six thousand years laid it down — push 
it into zones of greater meridian splendors. The 
mysteries of science, the wonders of art, and the 
marvels of religion, still unexplored, lie in deeper 
spheres than the past has penetrated. 'The study, 
the discoveries of the dead have only tacked up 
the finger-board pointing out to you, young man, 
the road along whose margins truth is to be found: 
you must unearth it as far into its domain as ^-our 
life may last, and dying, nail up the sign telling 
the directions of its leads to those who may fol- 
low you. With the aids which centuries have put 
into your hands, 3'ou can accomplish more in one 
decade than others have done in a life -time. A 
faithful use of the means at your disposal may ac- 
celerate the speed of the car of progress, and when 
you may hand it to the age beyond your day, the 
1:0 



450 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

grand, golden age of the world's millennium-morn 
may begin to gild orient skies. All the mighty 
agencies of ignorance and vice demolished, the 
liquor traffic destroyed, all institutions of gaming 
put down with the things' that were, the ball-rooms 
closed forever, and the theatric-stage buried with 
the past — schools, colleges, and universities, estab- 
lished in all districts of the civilized domain, and 
the press hallowed and dedicated alone to the inter- 
ests of science, truth, morality, and religion, while 
the Church may pour into society's great heart its 
leavening virtues — then shall the dawning of vir- 
tue's triumph begin to appear — then shall man, re- 
deemed and saved, approach near unto the precincts 
of his earthly glory. 

But not until his youthful prime is utilized in the 
cause of knowledge and virtue; not until all intem- 
perate habits are abandoned; not until all ostenta- 
tion and vain pageant of costly mansions, furniture, 
and dressing, shall give way to benevolent deeds; 
when costly mausoleums for the dead are abandoned, 
and great-domed and steepled mansions and church- 
es shall cease to grace the earth; when wars and 
luxuries shall be no more, and all the vast billions 
spent in these things shall, in one vast treasure-pile, 
be lavished on the improvement of the physical 
condition of the poor, and the mental and moral 
status of humanity — then shall the long-prayed for 
day begin to rise on the world. Hail, happy morn! 

But, kind reader, are you a neophyte in the min- 
istry of Jesus? or are you just intending to take 
upon you that office in some future time? If so, 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 451 

allow a word of advice from one who is now old, 
though once young as yon. Delay not to hegin 
your work. Time is passing, sinners are perishing. 
God has imposed the high duty upon you to warn 
them of their danger, and invite them to his mercy. 
The Church needs you to cultivate her untilled but 
open fields; China needs ten thousand preachers to- 
day to plant the gospel in her great empire; Japan, 
South America, and Mexico, call for hundreds more 
to occupy their pagan and semi-heathen temples. 
Do you feel the Spirit move you to enter as a la- 
borer to cultivate Immanuel's lands? then tarry 
no longer in the precincts of Jericho. Do you 
need wisdom? then "Ask of God, who giveth 
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." Are 
you deficient in the knowledge of books? and are 
you poor and unable to defray the costs of an edu- 
cation? then oiFer yourself to the Church. Slie has 
schools, and in them are theological chairs, where 
you can get all needed training for the Home or 
Foreign Fields. The Foreign Fields demand spe- 
cial qualifications for the work in their respective 
spheres; but the Church has all the preparatory 
helps. Lay your soul and body on her altars; give 
up the world — her wealth, her honors, her pleas- 
ures, her vain pomp and glory, for "the excellency 
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus." A full conse- 
cration is required. !N'ow, while your young heart 
is untainted by the follies of the gay world, begin 
your life-long work. Have no experience in the 
silly pleasures of life, none in its tainting evils; im- 
merse your youthful spirit in the love of Jesus, as 



452 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

young Paul or youthful Timothy. Let Christ's love 
constrain you; it is the holy anointing-oi], the unc- 
tion from above; it gives the tongue of fire; it 
melts the indurated heart of sinners, and gives efii- 
ciency to your doctrines preached to the multitudes. 
Whatever else you may have — learning, oratory, or 
skill in the arts of style of address — yet, if you are 
wanting in that divine qualification, your ministry 
will be a tinkling sound, a bouquet of fading flowers, 
beautiful when taken from the parent stem, but 
faded and wilted in a day. Learning and natural 
gifts, hallowed b}^ that divine anointing, carry both 
light and holy fire to the dark intellects and hard 
hearts of sinful men. The arts of logic and the 
tinsel of rhetoric win the applause of men for the 
orator, but the Spirit of God in the heart, and ac- 
companying the words of the minister, leads sin- 
ners to think of Him who loved and died to save 
them. The first gains a following for the preacher, 
the second allies men to Christ Jesus. 

Men are called into the ministry from almost all 
spheres and conditions in life, in order to suit, each 
class of society to whom tliey are to minister. If 
you feel impressed to enter at once into the pulpit, 
and learn to "blow and strike at the same time," 
do not hesitate; but, at the same time, give dili- 
gent attention to reading and study; and there are 
no heights in a learned and divinely-hallowed min- 
istry to which grace may not elevate you in the 
issues of a short life-time. A few things are requi- 
site to make a truly great preacher: A divine call, 
native capacity, ceaseless application, and the aid 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 45S 

of the Divine Spirit in tlie studio and in the pnlpit. 
The»last is assured to all men called of God to oc- 
cupy the pulpit. But remember, dear reader, that 
you may idle away life's jeweled moments, and neg- 
lect tlie gift of God that is within you. Be ever 
stirring it up by unremitting efforts to do more and 
to get higher in the scale of usefulness. An ad- 
vance is the inevitable result of well-aimed effort. 
Twenty years spetit in devoted research, and a faith- 
ful practical experience in pulpit toils, may elevate 
to high plateaus of useful ministerial renown now 
not within the limited range of your most sanguine 
hopes. As you steadily ascend, the clouds above 
will vanish into pure air, and still greater altitudes 
will rise in increasing grandeur before you. Do not 
look back; keep your eye on the golden upward, 
till you reach that region where clouds float not, 
that peerless dome where celestial glories mingle 
their fadeless hues with the highest earthly. 

But if you merely feel called to get ready to- do a 
work yet to be more specially indicated — to school, 
to educate yourself for the Master's future demands 
of you — then wait not a day: lay down all earthly 
hopes and aims; apply your time and energies to 
books^ to study. Georgetown, the great Vanderbilt, 
and other worthy institutions, are open to you. If 
you are poor, no matter: make your divine call, 
your intentions, known to the Church of your 
choice, and God will touch some heart to help you, 
as he did for Martin Luther, the poor, carol-singing 
boy of Eisenach; and light shall spring up along 
your way as the purposes of a gracious Providence 



454 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

may see fit to reveal to you the line of duty. Only 
trust the Lord, and discharge present, tangible ob- 
ligations: the end, though now hidden from you, 
shall be sure, and radiant with glory. If God has 
called you to a scholarly ministry, the fields 3'ou 
are to enter are vast, and now are ready for the la- 
borers. In that great empire there is a place for 
you, or God would not have called you to prepare 
for it. The demands of that place measure up to 
all you are now, and all you may be after having 
been endowed with all that man can impart, and all 
that God shall invest you with. Great acquisitions 
are needed, because a great work is to be performed. 
The temples of atheism are to be demolished; false 
science is to be uprooted and expunged from tem- 
ples of a false philosophy, from books, journals, 
and creeds; a sound theism and a pure morality are 
to be deeply engraved on the human mind, and 
planted deep into its affections, refined by grace; the 
errors and superstitions made strong and sacred by 
the use of ages in pagan lands must be eradicated 
from the domain of heathen thought and afifection, 
and the modern dogmas of the haters of God and the 
revilers of his Church must be buried in the debris 
of modern times by a learned and God -honored 
ministry. Therefore arm yourself now with all 
the implements of human wisdom and the whole 
panoply of God; then, like David, take your place 
in front of Israel's hosts. 

With all the advantages into which you enter 
from the cradle, you begin life where the present 
veterans now leave it; hence much is expected of 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 455 

you. Like a youth walking on an empire of pretty, 
polished stones, the beautiful pebbles and larger 
stones of the million of facts of art, science, and 
religion, lie in vast profusion about you, and you 
only have to stoop and pick them up, and use them 
as occasion may require. The libraries of the world 
are open unto you, and the Bible — " book of books," 
God's book — is your text-book. Energy, zeal, faith, 
and the onward push, shall end your career deep 
into the golden victory awaiting the kingdom of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Bible, my dear young brother, is not only your 
text-book for the pulpit, but it is your solace and guide 
in and out of the sacred desk; it is not to be substi- 
tuted by any work of man on theology: commenta- 
ries, and biblical dictionaries, and books of sermons, 
are so many helps in your study of the Holy Script- 
ures; but you must read and study the holy page 
of God's own word; it will make you wise unto sal- 
vation, imbue your heart with the genius of its sen- 
timents, and print all its literal phrases on the page 
of memory. Have all its doctrines, precepts, prom- 
ises, exhortations, and holy maxims, at your com- 
mand in the pulpit. Quote the Scriptures accu- 
rately, observe their nice distinctions, and use them 
appropriately. No word of man, however learned 
or great in popular fame, has equal force of author- 
ity on the human mind as the plain ''thus saith the 
Lord." Divine statement is the end of all debate 
with men. God is true, if all men are in error. 
Wherever you can adduce the clear testimony of 
the Bible for vour doctrines, men will receive them 



456 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

without dispute. A minister not familiar with the 
readinfi: of the divine word is like unto the wood- 
man having a dull ax, or no ax at all, in a great for- 
est which is to be felled; or, to use another sym- 
bol, as a soldier antagonizing steel-clad warriors 
with a wooden sword, having only the teachings 
of men at his command. The Bible is the sword 
of the Divine Spirit, sharpened, and brightened, and 
precisely fitted for the work of the slaughter of sin. 
No blade of human invention can equal it. It lays 
open to the sinner the hidden secrets of his own 
heart, and reveals unto him the vileness of his mo- 
tives and the vanity of his hopes. Your success as 
a minister of Jesus Christ, your victories achieved 
in his name, in the saving of men from atheism, in- 
fidelity, and the ruin of sin hereafter, must be the 
result of a dexterous use of the Spirit's sword — the 
word of God. 

Beautiful, learned, and eloquent sermons, framed 
out of borrowed or original conceptions, and adorned 
with all the art and tinselry of refined rhetoric, ut- 
tered with the aft'ectionate sweetness of an angel's 
tone and phrase to applauding thousands, may get 
your name into the books and journals of the day 
as a great preacher; the Church may honor you, 
and the world may hang on your lips with delight; 
but God doth know that it all is no more than the 
windy storm which rent the mountain -side, with- 
out the presence of any divine force — God's efiicient 
voice was yet in the rear of the rending tempest. 
God's voice — his word — is the power that saves. 
Preach the word, is the injunction upon you, dear 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 457 

young man. The Spirit makes that word sharp to 
the sinner's conscience. Print all the facts of the 
holy word on your memory's page now while youth 
is with you, for when toils and age have piled their 
hurdens upon you, Memory will not receive the im- 
pressions of things and events as now, when all her 
pages are smooth and white; soon she will hlur them, 
^ow fill her arsenals with a store of hiblical truths, 
to be used in the future battles of life, or in its 
evening decline. A real (fodor of divinity — one thor- 
oughly versed and deeply skilled in the use of the 
divine record — is of priceless value. 

Now please understand me, dear young reader: 
Schools, books, standards of all species of knowl- 
edge, are needful helps to students of all professions 
and trades, especially so to the learner in divinity. 
Like the busy bee, he must extract the sweet from 
all flowers. Head, study, every book, or journal, 
that is not foolish or vicious; cull out the good, and 
store it away; you may iind a place for it a half- 
century hence. Read men, study Nature, revel 
among the stars, dive into the oceans, dig into the 
earth, inspect the arts of life, and acquaint your- 
self with the evils and virtues of the home-circle; 
but use all the facts you may learn therefrom to il- 
lustrate the spiritual genius of God's hallowed truth. 
Let one grand aim, as a silver thread, run through 
all your pulpit administrations — to instruct sinners, 
and lead them to turn from their evil ways, and come 
unto the blood-stained cross, where pardon -and life 
are given. 

Thus endowed with divine knowledore and an 



458 Andreav Jackson Potter. 

abiding consciousness of your spiritual call, go for- 
ward with meek boldness, fearing nothing but sin. 
Though you may have been called, like Mr. Potter, 
from the hedge, or the ditch, care not for it. Let 
the past be buried, as if you are now raised up to a 
new life indeed. But be humble. Pemember that 
the name of Jesus, written on your character, is a 
safe and welcome passport into the mansions of 
the celestial city, and also into the lowest and high- 
est grades of society on the earth. The doors of the 
rich and the great swing open at the name of Jesus. 
He was born in a stable, and cradled in a manger, 
but now is worshiped in the grandest temples of the 
globe, and is honored in the halls of wealth and in 
the mansions of the great. You too, like your re- 
nowned Master, may have been rocked in poverty's 
cradle, but now his name seats you among earth's 
noblest and highest honored ones. 

When Mr. Potter joined the Church, and took on 
himself the name of Jesus, fresh from the grog- 
shop, as the demoniac from the tombs, Mr. Holbert, 
a rich man in the State of Texas, said to him, 
"IN'ow, Mr. Potter, you are welcome to my home; 
the latch-string is now outside for you; I could not 
invite you before — now you are welcome." The 
name of Jesus gives you a welcome into the private 
homes of the civilized world. Because he did no 
harm, but loved the sin-ruined race, you are ex- 
pected to follow his harmless steps. O ye dear 
young men of the ministry of Jesus, betray him 
not, dishonor him not in the house of his friends, 
as many have done in this licentious age, and locked 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 459 

many an insulted hall against your approach! In- 
nocence and heavenly-mindedness are expected to 
enter with you. Let not the slimy serpent leave 
his trail where you go. O think of the power of 
Jesus's name! It is emhalmed in a magic charm; 
it comes as an angel visitant from a friendly isle, 
bringing good news of those we love. 

I see you, youthful preacher, nearing a palatial 
home of strangers in a great city; you are making 
your first visit in a new charge; you are a stranger. 
You ascend the marble steps, and ring the door- 
bell: a young w^oman blushing in feminine modesty 
opens the paneled door, and seeing a stranger on the 
steps before her, in delicate modesty shrinks back a 
step or two; but when you announce yourself as a 
minister of Jesus Christ, her face instantly bright- 
ens up as she advances, extends her hand of wel- 
come, and bids you walk in. What inspired that 
cautious young lady's heart with instant confidence 
and cheerful hospitality? Not you; no, not you, 
young man, but the hallowed charm of Jesus's 
name. That name imprisoned Paul and Silas, but 
to you it opens the door to the hospitalities of the 
small and the great. Mr. Potter, born in a hum- 
ble cottage, is welcomed and esteemed in fashiona- 
ble cities, and in the seats of rural pride, as also in 
the cottage home. ye ennobled, ye honored ones 
in Christ's holy Church, see that you by a hol}^ life 
honor Him who has called you to such distinguished 
privileges! A plateau of honor above all earthly 
fame is before 3^ou; arise and ascend unto it. Re- 
member that your Master has a name that is above 



460 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
shall bow, and you shall share in his glory if true to 
him here. 

Before ending this chapter, please allow us to call 
your careful attention to some growing evils in the 
Church, which must be remedied in your day: The 
false estimate placed on the ritualistic pageant, and 
the emulating efforts at great things. — All nations 
have had their pet follies, and every age of the 
world's history reveals some special vanity. Egypt 
built her wonderful Pyramids, Greece erected her 
Parthenon, and originated her games and plays, and 
Rome built great palaces, supported by forests of col- 
onnades, and constructed her amphitheater, and ear- 
nestly pursued gallantry and fame. Ours is an in- 
ventive age, and is bordering on the useful. That 
which is not of utility is passing away; the incom- 
ing generation may occupy the utilitarian epoch of 
modern times. Costly pageant in great buildings, 
in dress, in luxury for the sumptuous table, and all 
other outlays to gratify vanity and pride, must go 
by Avith the onward roll of the ages. Costly out- 
ward adornment, the varnished of the beautiful too, 
Avill pass away as men are enlightened and refined. 
Great steepled churches, costing vast sums, crowns 
and diamonds, with robes speckled with jewels — all 
must be dedicated to the useful. Countless millions 
now^ spent to gratify and adorn luxury and pride 
must be devoted to the elevating of the mind of the 
race. Mind is the thing to be adorned. Solomon's 
grand temple was a symbol of the mind; it was the 
pidare; the mind, the real. The picture is no more; 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 461 

the real remains. Ye are the temples of God — the 
living temples. The splendors of the divine she- 
kinah glow in the mind. Neat and comfortable 
homes, clean and useful clothing, good and whole- 
some food, and commodious and substantial church- 
es, school-rooms, and business-houses, are all that 
is needful; all the extra cost in these things must 
be devoted to education, the refining and instruct- 
ing of mind — the mind of the race. Education is 
still in its cradle, or its swaddling-bands. It has 
not yet entered its First Reader. The human race 
is one family, and education is due each child; and 
when the many bilUons now wasted annually among 
the civilized nations on vanity, luxury, pleasure, 
and the useless, are all lavished on the redemption 
of mind from the fetters of ignorance, then shall 
mind begin to glow with the efi:ulgence of the di- 
vine. The pulpit is in the van of the great educa- 
tional domain. You must lift up your voice like a 
trumpet, and plead for the wasted millions of the 
children's educational fund, unrobe the Churches of 
their pageanted attire, and start them on a career 
of the useful in elevating mind. Simply take care 
of the body as the scaffolding of the mind. Many 
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase; 
right knowledge shall cover the earth as the waters 
cover the bottom of the seas. When the pulpit, 
the press, and the school-room, see eye to eye, and 
unify their efforts to one great result of imparting 
the true, the good, to men, then shall the earth 
blossom as the Eden of olden fiime. Imposing 
forms strike the imagination, but do not refine the 



462 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

heart. It is the power — the divine baptism. — that 
purifies and ennobles humanity. It enlightens, 
quickens, and inspirits the mind with all the holy 
catalogue of the higher motives which Christianity 
gives to the world. The present redemption and final 
salvation of your race are to result from a faithful 
application of the gospel you are called to advocate. 
So preach it, that earth shall be the poorer when 
you are called up higher; bat be sure that you 
leave no shadow draping the Church you may have 
served. Plant the germ of a stainless ministry deep 
in the age in which you may have lived. Print 
your virtues in indelible lines on its pages, that 
those who may come after you may read and profit 
thereby. All ]N"ature strives to leave a blessing to 
the succeeding epochs. A love of life and a gen- 
erous desire to transmit it is a living, benevolent 
trait in all her organized forms. The rapid and in- 
creasing speed of the car of future progress depends 
much upon the forces passed down to it from each 
preceding age. A learned and hallowed ministry 
should not only leave the impress of its knowledge 
and piety on its own age, but should in some form 
transmit them in some stable manner to coming 
generations. Books are of inestimable value; they 
contain the accumulated knowledge of the ages. 
The society of books is better than that of the liv- 
ing. They contain the good of the dead without 
their evils. The living have their faults and follies 
mingled with their virtues. Men put the best of 
themselves in books. Books, then, are your best 
companions; see to it that you make a timely use 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 463 

of them. Study precision, condensation, and accurate- 
ness. There is much knowledge in the world, yet 
it is poor in accurate, precise knowledge. Indefi- 
niteness is the character of much of printed thought, 
as a vast pile of drift-wood floating on the hosom 
of a sw^ollen stream without order — a mingling of 
odds and ends. Attention is needful to a nice dis- 
tinction of facts and words. Ideas and language 
are the elements of pulpit greatness — let the first 
be clear, and the second pure. Let no vulgarisms or 
barbarisms enter the pulpit, or mingle in your daily 
speech. Close inspection into thoughts and phrases 
will guide you safely. Sir Walter Scott's descrip- 
tive greatness w^as the result of minute attention to 
all things he saw and heard. If he describes a tiny 
leaflet, he mirrors before the mind all its delicate 
peculiarities; the reader sees its finely - notched 
edges more nicely scalloped than the teeth of the 
fine tenon-saw; all its little veins and thread-like 
fibers magnify in his eye — he can even see its glis- 
tening, verdant hues. Look at all things proper to 
be seen, and listen to that which ought to be heard. 
Stamp them on memory's page. 

All divines have not the same gifts or talents, 
either in kind or degree. Cultivate your natural 
gifts, whatever they may be. If discriminating log- 
ical powers, cultivate them to their highest possible 
attainments. Unveil the sophisms of error by the 
light of logical truth. If it is the pathetic, dive 
into the secret founts of pity and love; touch hu- 
manity's heart, a»ul bedew your ministry with the 
baptism of holy tears, as did the weeping Jeremiah. 



464 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

Be not ashamed of tears. "Jesus wept." This is 
a vale of tears. When truth calls up tears, it will 
bid jour brother weep. When man loses his heart, 
he is abnormal — ceases to be man. If yours is the 
gift of poesy, indulge it, reiine it, inform it, revel 
in all the true, the beautiful, and the good, in nat- 
ure, art, and the Bible; paint it all in pathetic verse, 
but let the divine glow in the face of facts and fan- 
cies as beams of ligdit on a golden world. Imagin- 
ation has much to do in poetr}^ and romance, and 
needs much curbing and refining. Romance is not 
poetry — it is wild. It is a reckless launch into the 
unreal, the strange, the marvelous. A romantic 
mind, of all others, in the sacred desk, needs the 
tightest rein. But let j^our heart-powers and men- 
tal machinery be driven by the romance of divinely- 
given love. The love of Christ constraineth us, said 
Paul, in his romantic life. Love -pointed beams 
warm and melt the heart. One dangerous error of 
this utilizing and fastidious age is the strong effort 
being made to unheart humanity, and lock up the 
tears of the pulpit — prepared iron-like castings in 
which to mold a heartless, stoical manhood. Man 
without a heart is a body soulless, a house without 
an inhabitant; a locomotive, but no steam to drive 
its wheels. Unfallen man possessed a heart. A 
God of love made him like unto himself. He 
planted in the corner of the eye the little lachrymal 
gland to secrete a tear of pity for the ruin of earth. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Second, the unfallen 
Adam, the highest model of humanity that earth 
can ever have, because he is the Son of God. He 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 465 

is the pattern after which we must fashion our man- 
hood. He had a divine heart of loving pity for an 
apostate race. Love incarnated him in a humble, 
frail mortal body. His entire life was one grand 
act of benevolent sympathy for human woe. He 
had tears to shed over the griefs of the sorrowful, 
and wept over the coming doom of devoted Jerusa- 
lem. The proud city of David, the beautiful home 
of Solomon, the city of the great king, with its 
magnificent temple, the admiration of angels and 
the wonder of the world, he dedicated its prospect- 
ive ruin with the baptism of tears. Sin ironized 
man's original heart. Plis first-born son was a frat- 
ricidal murderer. God gave us a new seed, with a 
heart like unto himself, to begin a new race, called 
*'the children of God," inheriting from Christ, by 
faith, his spirit, or heart of love. If any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Jesus 
put a new leaven of love in our earthen vessels — a 
feelins: of lovino^-kindness to our race. All the in- 
stitutions of charity and benevolence in the Church 
of to-day, and in the world at large, are the fruits 
of that regenerating germ Jesus planted in the 
world's great heart. But modern ritualism in the 
Church, and cold infidel philosophy in the world, 
strive to dry the fountain of tears and congeal man's 
pitying heart. A proud intellectual form of man 
is ashamed of the weakness of tears. Sorrow's 
tear seeks the closet, or the gloomy retreat, because 
there is a tacit admission of guilt in the causes of 
grief. Joy loves the light, for it is innocent; guilt 
'draws the veil over its tearful eye. Jesus had no 

30 I 



466 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

sense of guilt. His tears were pearly and unveiled 
as the morning dew-drop quivering to its fall on the 
bosom of the rose. The pulpit must have the heart 
of Jesus; its tears must be those of unfeigned in- 
nocence and pitying love. Be not ashamed, young 
preacher, of such tears; they are the visible baptism 
of an inward anointing. A tearless, heartless min- 
istry is a fruitless one. A powerful, a successful 
ministry has its magazine forces stored in the heart. 
Tarry at Jerusalem, said Jesus, till endued with 
power from above — that was heart -power. Love 
drives your chariot wheels; love carries with it a 
bountiful supply of tears, and baptizes earth's graves 
and altars of sorrow with its pathetic dews. It is 
the weeping evangelist who is to return in the light 
of victorious joy, bringing his harvest sheaves with 
him. The learned, the great Apostle Paul ceased 
not to warn night and day with tears. If, dear 
neophyte brother, you have not a good supply of 
tears on hand, you had better not set out on your 
ministerial pilgrimage through earth's "vale of 
tears" without replenishing your stock, or you may 
need them, as the oilless five virgins, when no sub- 
stitute can be had. If you commune with the dead 
in the perusal of books, you shall have many a call 
for unbidden tears over the recorded ruins of the 
ages gone — the perished glories of proud cities, the 
tragic downfall of pompous empires, the decay and 
dust of the noble erections of art, the demolition 
of the works of genius, and the blood-stained rec- 
ord of human woes. The voice of history is but 
the resounding wail of broken hearts. If you min- 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 467 

gle with the living, in each town, city, hamlet, or 
rural home, in the events of each day, you shall 
have demands for tears. While you mingle with 
the gay and cheerful in the halls of merry delights, 
just over the street the noise of sorrow invites you 
there to weep. You may stand before angel woman 
in bridal -robes at Hymen's altar at eventide, and tell 
her she is one with him she adores, while all ligat- 
ure's silent breathing whispers of peace and love; 
but, alas, in the morn you may read "dust to dust," 
and sprinkle tears on a newly-dug grave! Disap- 
pointments, misfortunes, bereavements, and sor- 
rows, of your comrades in life, lay a large embargo 
on your tears; and the sins of men, together with 
the follies of the Church, require all you can un- 
feignedly spare in the pulpit. Tears are all-power- 
ful. Who can resist the poetry, the magic charm 
of a tear? The world's iron heart can be melted 
only by the warm droppings of love's pitying tears. 
Suffering, love's wonderful charm, is to win guilty 
man back to God. The most powerful magnet in 
the universe to intellectual and moral natures is 
suffering love — love giving its life to save. A mor- 
al nature which cannot be attracted b}^ its electric 
might is lost; it is as a planet which has passed be- 
yond the sphere of the controlling forces of univer- 
sal order. Suffering, dying love, all mingled in 
blood and tears, is your theme; with it you are to 
subdue sin and win your race to Him who has called 
you to tell of His dying love. Do not strive to il- 
lumine your intellect and congeal your heart, but 
let the radiant beams of divine truth glow in the 



468 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

mind, and pass down into the inner heart, till its 
stimulating fires shall enkindle all the soul's latent 
affections for the subjects of your divine message. 
While love fills and rules the preacher's heart he is 
safe. ]N"o hardships, no toils, too great a task for 
love. He who lives in dying love's radiant glow 
beneath the cross, must ever love the divinely-coro- 
neted Sufferer hanging there. Let the poetic senti- 
ment of the following stanzas ever dw^ell in the heart 
of the pulpit: 

In evil long I took delight, 

Unawed by shame or fear ; 
Till a new object struck my sight, 

And stopped my wild career. 

I saw one hanging on a tree, 

In agonies and blood, 
Who fixed his languid eyes on me, 

As near Jiis cross I stood. 

Sure, never to my latest breath 

Can I forget that look ; 
It seemed to charge me with his death, 

Though not a word he spoke. 

My conscience felt, and owned tlie guilt, 

And plunged me in despair; 
I saw my sins his blood had spilt. 

And helped to nail him there. 

A second look he gave, which said, 

"I freely all forgive; 
This blood is for thy ransom paid ; 

I die that tliou may'st live." 

Brinor the listenino^ thousands unto the Sufferer's 
cross, tell of his anguish-riven love till each one 
shall see him heave, and hear him groan, and feel 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 469 

his gushing blood. Fear not the result. The phi- 
losophy of suftering is in the agonies of that cross. 
A divine magic, as a celestial coronal, crowns the 
Sufferer's drooping head, and that occult power on 
which the universe leans is pledged to its ultimate 
triumph in the earth. Plant the standard cross on 
which your Saviour bleeds deep in the heart of your 
age. The jubilant shout of victory shall ring along 
the lirmament of coming ages. You enter the bat- 
tle after its severest struggles have passed away; 
you take hold on the cross after it has been erected 
far into the enemy's domain. The twilight of uni- 
versal triumph is now gilding the victor's morn. 
Christianity has now passed its equinoctial zone — 
it is beyond the limits of a possible retrograde. 
Her collected arsenals of aggressive forces for eight- 
een centuries are now engaging the scattered ranks 
of the retreating en^my at every point of the pop- 
ulated continents and islands dotting the seas of 
the globe. The voices of the love-moved mission- 
aries are now in hearing of each other in their 
voyage round the earth. The false religions — Mo- 
hammedanism and paganism — cease to be aggres- 
sive; they retire from the effulgent glories beaming 
out from the cross. N'ations under the gloom of 
the ages are coming unto the light of its glory. 
The beautiful celestial cross has ascended to the 
mast-head of the world's commerce; it glides in mild 
triumphs on the waters of all seas, and visits and 
smiles on all shores where man has built his home. 
Surely the day cometh. The genius of the Deca- 
logue and the Sermon on the Mount, like a silver 



470 Andrew Jackson Potter. 

cord, run through the Constitutions of States and 
the Governments of Kingdoms. Their hallowing 
spirit percolates the world's literature, and is diffus- 
ing its holj leaven into the press, the school-room, 
and the marts of trade; and in the home-circle it is 
beginning to consecrate the cradle and childhood 
unto Jesus. Songs from ruby infant lips begin to 
echo along the vaulted ceilings of his great temples 
in minareted cities and in shaded rural realms. 
In spring-time, in forest groves and new-clad, leafy 
dells, beside the placid bay, or the margin of the 
sparkling, flowing river, where modest flowers 
bloom, and merry birds in dewy morn trill their 
happy love -songs in the tender, verdant leaflet's 
shade, the Sabbath -school cortege of joj^ous little 
ones mingle their notes of praise to Him who said, 
Let them come unto me. I see their ensigns wav- 
ing, and their banners unfurled. On one side is 
printed, ''Unto the name of Jesus every knee shall 
bow;" and on the other is capitaled, 

And infant voices shall proclaim 
Their early blessings on his name. 

It is a living army of infant millions coming up 
as fresh recruits from all islands swelling up on the 
opean's bosom, from all regions and climes, from 
hill and dale, of the gospel-redeemed earth. ye 
young men of God, lead surely on to certain victory 
this allied army of your conquering Jesus, till a 
reo^enerated earth shall reflect back the imao^e of 
the celestial, as the calm blue ocean, veiled in night, 
mirrors back each glowing star in the concaved 



Andrew Jackson Potter. 471 

firmament, and as when all clouds have poured 
their showers upon the forest world, and have float- 
ed away to other climes, and the golden sunlight 
beams down on the dripping trees sparkling in 
praise ! 



THE END. 




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